The Tigray War (Tigrinya: ውግእ ትግራይ) is an ongoing armed conflict that began around midnight of 3–4 November 2020 in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.[33][34] The Special Forces of the Tigray Regional government are fighting the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the latter being aided by the Ethiopian Federal Police, regional police, and gendarmerie forces of the neighboring Amhara and Afar Regions with the involvement of the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF).[19][35][36] The Tigrayan Special Forces received reinforcements from defecting ENDF soldiers and civilian volunteers; they were integrated into the Tigray Defense Forces.[37] All sides, particularly the ENDF and EDF, have committed war crimes during the conflict.[38][39][40]
In 2019, to distance the country from ethnic federalism and ethnic nationalist politics, prime minister Abiy Ahmed merged the ethnic and region-based constituent parties of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition and several opposition parties into his new Prosperity Party. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a politically powerful entity that had dominated Ethiopian politics for 27 years as a repressive regime through a one-party dominant system,[41] refused to join the new party. The TPLF then alleged that Abiy Ahmed became an illegitimate ruler because the general elections scheduled for 29 August 2020 were postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The TPLF, led by its chairman Debretsion Gebremichael, went ahead with regional elections in Tigray in September 2020 in defiance of the federal government, which then declared the Tigray election illegal.[42]
After a long build-up of Eritrean and Amhara forces on Tigray's borders, the actual fighting between the TPLF and the Ethiopia-Eritrea-Amhara alliance began with the 4 November attacks on Northern Command bases and headquarters of the ENDF in Tigray Region by TPLF-aligned security forces and with counterattacks by the ENDF in the Tigray Region on the same day, that federal authorities described as a police action.[43][33][44] The federal forces captured Mekelle, the capital of Tigray Region, on 28 November, after which Prime Minister Abiy declared the Tigray operation "over".[11][45] The TPLF stated in late November that it would continue fighting until the "invaders" are out,[19][46][47] and on 28 June 2021 the Tigray Defense Forces retook Mekelle.[48]
Mass extrajudicial killings of civilians took place during November and December 2020 in and around Adigrat,[49] Hagere Selam,[49] in the Hitsats refugee camp,[50] and in Humera,[51] Mai Kadra[40][52] Debre Abbay,[53][54][55] and Aksum.[56]
Peace and mediation proposals included an early November African Union (AU) mediation proposed by Debretsion and refused by Abiy;[57][58] an AU trio of former African presidents who visited Ethiopia in late November;[59][60] an emergency Intergovernmental Authority on Development summit of East African heads of government and state that met in late 20 December 2020 in Djibouti;[61] and peace proposals on 19 February by the TPLF[62] and on 20 February by the National Congress of Great Tigray (Baytona), Tigray Independence Party (TIP) and Salsay Weyane Tigray (SAWET).[63] Due to the onset of the war, a deep humanitarian crisis has been feared.[64]