The UN voiced grave concern as fighting spread across Ethiopia’s northern regions

Briefing journalists in New York, UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said the UN “particularly disturbed by reports of drone use as well as incidents endangering civilians,” and again urged all parties to “exercise maximum restraint and resolve their differences through dialogue.”

He says Secretary General Antonio Guterres is following developments closely and continuing to discuss the issue with leaders in New York in an effort to defuse the escalating crisis – which threatens to return the country to the state of full-scale war in the northern region that erupted in Tigray in 2020.

Internet outage

According to news reports, internet and call services have been largely cut in the Tigray region. Many rely on banking and mobile transactions due to lack of access to cash and bank ATMs.

The 2020–2022 Tigray War began following political tensions between the Ethiopian federal government and the region’s former ruling party, the TPLF, which erupted into fighting between Government forces and Tigray militias in November 2020.

Eritrean troops joined the Government’s side, and the conflict spread to neighboring regions, with the UN documenting widespread atrocities and warning of famine-like conditions before the conflict ended two years later.

The UN welcomed the peace deal reached in November 2022 under the mediation of the African Union, although it continued to flag the slow progress in implementing the agreement as a risk to peace now threatened by this week’s escalation.

UN mediation

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Guang Congis engage with national and regional interlocutors and coordinate closely with partners, including the AU and regional intergovernmental body IGADto support the resumption of dialogue under the 2022 agreement, Dujarric said.

In the humanitarian field, the UN aid coordination office (Ocha) said the escalation risks adding to already great needs, including civilians displaced by previous fighting in Tigray, in a region that also experiences below-average rainfall associated with the El Niño weather pattern – which has the potential to exacerbate extreme weather conditions around the world.

The UN and its partners are continuing routine humanitarian operations as security permits, in Tigray and the northern Amhara and Afar regions, to assess emergency needs.

Fighting hinders aid

But insecurity is already starting to take its toll: Last week, a A drone strike in northwestern Tigray hit a truck carrying food aid for internally displaced people.

Road closures have halted or stalled planned humanitarian movements, Dujarric said, while operations in parts of Amhara have faced significant obstacles, including the seizure of humanitarian vehicles by armed groups.

The UN stressed that all parties must ensure safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian partners to reach those in need, wherever they are.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, too issued a firm statement on Friday said he was deeply concerned by the escalation and urged all sides to reduce tensions and avoid a return to full-scale war.

He said airstrikes reportedly hit five schools in Tigray on September 22, and a mortar attack two days later killed civilians in Kobo, Amhara.