Ethiopia

We are providing aid-sector tailored predictive situation analysis on Ethiopia to support aid agencies’ strategic security decision-making.

Health worker injured in drone strike
14 September 2022: In Mekelle city, Tigray region, a health worker was injured in an Ethiopian air force drone strike while providing medical care to victims of a previous drone strike which killed 10 people and wounded 13 others. Source: ACLED1 Return to Ethiopia country page. more
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2021 Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) Factsheet

The SHCC identified 55 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in Ethiopia in 2021, compared to seven incidents in 2020. At least eight health workers were killed in these incidents, 13 were sexually assaulted, and 42 health facilities were attacked. Regional and national Ethiopian government sources, together with reports from INGOs and OCHA, reported the looting or destruction of thousands of health facilities in Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions, but no details on the locations of these incidents and specific circumstances or perpetrators have been shared. The WHO Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care did not report any incidents for Ethiopia in 2021. This chapter analyses a sample of 55 reported incidents of violence against health care that occurred in Ethiopia in 2021 in order to provide insight into the patterns and nature of reported conflict-related violence against health care in that country. Download data.

Our Global Interactive Map on Threats and Violence against Health Care provides access to continuously updated information on violence against health care in conflict and related to COVID-19.

Aid in Danger

During 2020 there was a deterioration of humanitarian access due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a political crisis, and conflict in Tigray. To date, humanitarian organisations continue to be denied or delayed access to many conflict-affected regions and communication blackouts persist in some areas. Ethiopian aid workers have been killed whilst others remain unaccounted for in Tigray region. Data on threats and violence affecting aid operations Aid workers have also been arrested. Data on aid workers killed, kidnapped and arrested globally

For the latest analysis on the current situation in Ethiopia read Vigil Insight’s Situation Reports above.

Sexual Violence

Reports of systematic sexual violence by conflict parties have been reported during the Tigray conflict. Tigrayan women were raped at gunpoint and forced to have sex with other family members or in exchange for basic commodities. In some cases, their family members were made to watch. In other cases, women were taken to an Eritrean military camp and repeatedly raped by Eritrean soldiers.

Women and girls in refugee camps in the region were particularly targeted. Witnesses to these incidents were threatened and warned against identifying perpetrators or reporting the incidents. Data

Education

In 2020 schools and teachers were harmed amidst violence in Oromio, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Tigray regions. Schools associated with ethnic Amhara residents were burnt down and ethnic Amhara students were attacked by Oromo youth organizations during the June protests in Oromio against the assassination of a prominent Oromo artist.

Teachers were shot and killed by police and federal forces for allegedly organising demonstrations. Schools were used by armed militiamen and opposition forces to execute civilians in Oromio and Benishangul-Gumuz regions.

Schools were damaged by Ethiopian National Defence forces airstrikes and set on fire by conflict parties in Tigray. Data

IDPs and Refugees

In 2020, in Tigray region humanitarian organisations were denied or delayed access to many conflict-affected regions. Shimelba and Hitsats refugee camps in the north were deliberately attacked and refugees were abducted and killed. Infrastructures inside the camps were also burnt down. There were also claims of refugees being forced back into Eritrea by Eritrean forces have been reported.

During 2021, although there have been temporary and intermittent improvements in humanitarian access, this is insufficient to reach all people in need. IDPs have reportedly starved to death, amid mounting evidence of an impending famine in the region. People inside IDP camps were also detained and physically assaulted by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers. Data