Ethiopia declares immediate truce, to allow aid into Tigray

Ethiopia said it was declaring ‘an indefinite humanitarian truce effective immediately’.

Ethiopia has announced an immediate ceasefire to its 16-month-long civil war, paving the way for aid to displaced people across the northern Tigray region.

In a statement on Thursday, the government said it was declaring “an indefinite humanitarian truce effective immediately”, saying it hoped to help hasten the delivery of emergency aid into the Tigray region, where hundreds of thousands face starvation.

“To optimise the success of the humanitarian truce, the government calls upon the insurgents in Tigray to desist from all acts of further aggression and withdraw from areas they have occupied in neighbouring regions,” the statement said.

Since November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed deployed troops to Tigray, thousands of people have died, even as millions remain displaced.

Ethiopian troops and allied soldiers from neighbouring Eritrea have committed a litany of abuses including torture, weaponised rape and targeted killings of Tigrayans, according to human rights groups.

Rebel fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have also been accused of similar abuses.