Africa Up Close

One of the world’s deadliest conflicts, the war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, raises serious concern over ethnic cleansing, human rights abuses, and manmade humanitarian crises. Established by the UN Human Rights Council in December 2021, the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) believes there are reasonable grounds to trust that the Federal Government of Ethiopia and its allies (Amhara regional and paramilitary forces and the Eritrean government) have committed crimes against humanity in the Tigray region. In the same vein, a joint investigation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHC) point to the same evidence. ICHREE and OHCHR/HER have also documented war crimes and human rights abuses by the Tigrayan Defense Forces—including attacks against Amhara civilians in Kobo and Chenna in August and September 2021. In September 2022, dozens of Amhara civilians were also killed by Tigray fighters in the town of Kobo.

After Abiy Ahmed was sworn-in as Ethiopia’s prime minister (PM) in April 2018, his government engaged in normalization talks with Eritrea. In July 2018, the two countries signed a historic agreement that ended two decades of “no peace and no war.” Following this, people-to-people relations resumed, embassies reopened, air flights restarted between Addis Ababa and Asmara, international telecommunication was fixed, and, most notably, border crossings reopened, allowing for free movement of people in both directions. These achievements helped Prime Minister Abiy garner huge popular support within and outside of Ethiopia, and contributed to his being awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.

Downtown Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo courtesy of the UK Department for International Development via Flickr Creative Commons.

Ethiopia, with 110 million people, is scheduled to hold a national election in 2020. This follows a pivotal year for Ethiopia, which in 2018 began a political transition marked by new dynamics in the relationship between the government and the people, including the opposition, private sector, and civil society. With the opening of the political space and the return of several opposition political parties and armed groups, the Ethiopian political landscape has witnessed dramatic changes over the last one-and-a-half years.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed alongside military commanders. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia via Wikipedia Commons. 

Ethiopia has undergone some crucial political development since the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition elected a new prime minister. Among other achievements, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ended a 20-year conflict with neighboring Eritrea, freed thousands of political prisoners, unfettered the media, and appointed women to 50 percent of cabinet positions. In addition to that, Parliament accepted his female nominees for president and head of the Supreme Court.

President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar at the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ACRSS). Photo courtesy of UNMISS via Flickr Commons.

The signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ACRSS) on September 12, 2018, has led to relative peace in South Sudan. Mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)—a regional economic and security bloc—South Sudanese policymakers recently extended the ‘pre-transitional’ period until November 2019 before forming the transitional government of national unity. Given the few months remaining before this new deadline, there are serious concerns that many key tasks remain to be addressed: namely, the issue of the number and boundaries of provinces/states, violent conflicts, a single national army, and securing the funding necessary for implementing the peace agreement. These cumulative factors hamper the peace process, foreshadowing future outbreaks of violence.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and H.E. President Isaias Afwerki signing the joint peace agreement. Photo courtesy via Wikipedia Commons.

Reconciliation and the Way Forward

Following the decision passed by the executive committee of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Ethiopia’s new reformist Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, announced that Ethiopia would accept the 2002 United Nations backed border demarcation, paving the way for peace between the two nations. Dr. Abiy Ahmed then paid a historic visit in July to Eritrea, during which he and President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea signed a declaration ending 20 years of hostility and restoring diplomatic relations and normal ties between the countries. President Isaias Afwerki reciprocated with a state visit to Ethiopia just days later.

Somali refugees at Kharaz Refugee Camp in Yemen. Photo courtesy of European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department via Flickr Commons. 

The rise of youth (15-to-24-year-olds) unemployment is one of the critical socio-economic and political problems facing Africa in general, and the Horn of Africa (HoA)[1] in particular. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) report, youth unemployment is still a serious concern in this part of Africa despite the World Bank (WB) report that most countries in the HoA achieved remarkable economic growth in 2016.  The table below provides a snapshot of the extent of youth unemployment in the region vis-à-vis economic growth.

Residents of Malakal, South Sudan protest and demand accountability. Photo by OCHA/Charlotte Cans, via Flickr. Creative Commons.

In August 2015, under the auspices of IGAD Plus,¹ President Salva Kiir and former rebel leader Riek Machar signed a peace deal for the formation of the transitional national unity government to end more than two years of devastating civil war. Following the deal, Machar, who is also leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO), returned to Juba in April 2016 and was sworn in as First Vice President, forging a unity government with President Kiir. In accordance with the transitional security arrangements, which came into effect in April, the two rival armies of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the SPLA-IO have been stationed in Juba to co-exist and hold joint patrols, providing security and protection in the capital. However, the political leadership has been unable to deal with serious structural issues in the peace agreements and the security situation has deteriorated rapidly since June 2016.

CNDD-FDD forces voluntarily disarm to UN peacekeepers at the end of Burundi’s civil war in 2005.
President Nkurunziza rose to power as chairman of the CNDD-FDD.
Photo by United Nations Photo, Creative Commons

The crisis in Burundi that began six months ago when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his controversial bid for a third term continues to deteriorate, threatening the still-fragile country’s peace. The president’s announcement led to deadly street protests and an attempted coup in mid-May, which plunged the country into a profound political and military crisis. This crisis has only continued since Nkurunziza won his bid for reelection in July, amid accusations of rampant electoral fraud.

Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Department of State via Flickr.

In 2000 there was a historic switch from the ‘non-interference’ approach of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the ‘non-indifference’ approach of the African Union (AU) in regards to how the regional organization dealt with intra-Africa conflict. The African governments adopted the Constitutive Act of the African Union to incorporate the right of intervention, after learning from the lessons and failures of the OAU in the past, which witnessed gross and massive human rights violations in Africa. Examples of these include the atrocities of Idi Amin in Uganda and Bokassa in the Central African Republic in the 1970s and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Following this decision, the AU has taken an interventionist and active stance with regards to situations in Burundi, Darfur, Somalia, Comoros, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, and is actively involved in supporting other peace operations around the continent.