Addis Standard:

Officials in Tigray state accused Eritrean forces of provoking fresh military attack over the weekend. Commenting on the statement, Ethiopia’s federal government first said it was not aware of the reports by authorities in Tigray, but accused Tigrayan forces of provoking the attack.

The Washington Post:

Ethiopian security officials are conducting a massive operation across the country that has led to the arrests of more than 4,500 people in one region alone. The crackdown on journalists, activists and others, dubbed a “law enforcement operation,” came into effect after the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on May 20 cited the need to “protect citizens and ensure the survival of the nation.”

Deutsche Welle:

Observers of Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict have seen encouraging signs of peace in the past few months. 

The truce announced by Ethiopia’s federal government is still holding nearly two months after it was announced. 

Tigray fighters, who have been battling a coalition of federal forces and regional militias since November 2020, have largely withdrawn back into the northern Tigray region from neighboring Afar.

There have been reports of sporadic reports of fighting in the Amhara region, which also borders Tigray, as well as in western Tigray, which is under Amhara region administration, but it is unclear who is involved and who is to blame. 

By and large, though, there has been a “pause in large-scale fighting,” finds the International Crisis Group, an independent think tank, in an April analysis of the situation in Ethiopia.

This “has generated cautious optimism,” the analysis finds.

The US State Department also speaks of “encouraging actions” that have laid the groundwork for peace in past months, including the government’s lifting of the state of emergency and its release of some political prisoners, as well as the delivery of “desperately needed food aid to war-affected communities.”

But there are concerns that if more isn’t done and done soon, full-scale conflict could flare up again.

Bloomberg:

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s return as Somalia’s president is set to reshape the war-torn nation’s relationship with neighboring Eritrea and Ethiopia, with far-reaching repercussions across the Horn of Africa region.

Newsweek:

Months after putting an end to what he called a “forever war” in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden is reversing his predecessor’s decision to also pull back forces from Somalia, signaling an intensification of U.S. military presence and engagement in the East African nation.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, a senior Biden administration official confirmed reports emerging in publications such as The New York Times indicating that the White House had ordered the deployment of fewer than 500 soldiers to Somalia to pursue operations against the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group Al-Shabab.

“President Biden has approved a request from the Department of Defense to reposition U.S. forces in East Africa in order to reestablish a small, persistent U.S. military presence in Somalia,” the official said.

The Citizen:

From southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya and Somalia, swathes of land across the Horn of Africa are being ravaged by a drought that has put 20 million people at risk of starvation.

A donor conference last week raised almost $1.4 billion for the region, which the UN says is facing its worst drought in 40 years.

Reuters:

The United States wants the opposing sides involved in conflict in Ethiopia to advance a negotiated ceasefire and for essential services to be restored in the Tigray region, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

“We now urge the parties… to seize the opportunity to advance a negotiated ceasefire, including the necessary security arrangements, and call for the restoration of essential services in Tigray on an urgent basis,” he said in a statement.

Reuters:

The Ethiopian government said on Thursday that rebellious Tigrayan forces are still in the neighbouring region of Afar, despite a spokesman for the Tigrayan forces announcing their withdrawal days earlier.

Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu told state media that the news that Tigrayan forces had left Afar were “big lies.”

Afar Police Commissioner Ahmed Harif told Reuters on Thursday that Tigrayan forces were still in four districts bordering Tigray – Koneba, Abala, Berhale and Magale – and had not moved since Monday.

Getachew Reda, the spokeman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray, did not respond to requests for comment. On Monday, he told Reuters Tigrayan forces were leaving Afar.

See also: Ethiopia: Fighting Breaks Out In Amhara Despite ‘Humanitarian Cease-Fire’

Reuters:

Rebellious Tigrayan forces are completely withdrawing from the neighbouring region of Afar in Ethiopia, a spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces told Reuters on Monday, saying he hoped it meant that desperately needed food aid could finally pour into famine-hit Tigray.

“Our forces have left all of Afar,” Getachew Reda, a spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters on Monday.

Reuters could not immediately independently confirm Getachew’s statement.

Afar’s police commissioner Ahmed Harif said Tigrayan forces had withdrawn from the town of Abala but were still in three of the region’s districts.

He said the forces were also in control of the highway between Abala and Tigray’s capital Mekelle, and that he was in touch with local officials and militias who were keeping him updated.

Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu could not be reached for comment.

Fighting in northern Ethiopia, which began in November 2020 in the Tigray region and spilled over into Afar last year, has eased since the federal government declared a unilateral ceasefire last month, saying it would allow humanitarian aid to enter.

See also: ‘This Is The Worst Drought In Forty Years’: Millions Of Ethiopians At Risk From Failed Rains

Bloomberg:

Forces from Ethiopia’s Amhara region, backed by federal troops, carried out systematic, ethnically-targeted attacks on neighboring Tigray that amounted to humanitarian and war crimes, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.

Abuses inflicted on the Tigrayans included murder, torture, rape and sexual slavery, the two rights groups in a 240-page report released on Wednesday. The findings are based on interviews conducted between December 2020 and March this year with more than 400 survivors.

See also: Half A Million May Have Died In Ethiopia Conflict As All Eyes Remain On Ukraine

Bloomberg:

The first international convoy to provide humanitarian aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray region since mid-December arrived safely, the latest sign of progress in efforts to end the nation’s 17-month civil war.

The delivery of more than 500 tons of food and nutritional supplies for hundreds of thousands of people on the edge of starvation came after the two sides in the conflict last week agreed a conditional truce in order to deliver assistance to the region. The tentative agreement is the closest the two sides have come to a cease-fire since the war began in November 2020. 

Reuters:

A new front in Ethiopia’s war in the Afar region is imperilling efforts to get enemies to sit down to peace talks, three regional officials and three diplomats said, and a ceasefire declared last week may have been breached in some places.

The flare-up of violence in Afar this year came after fighting in the neighbouring regions of Tigray and Amhara had ground to a stalemate and as moves were gathering pace to get the government in Addis Ababa and Tigrayan rebels to agree to peace negotiations.

“There cannot be peace in Ethiopia while there is fighting in Afar,” said Mussa Ibrahim, a clan leader in Erepti, one of six districts in Afar currently occupied by Tigrayan forces.

The Week:

Rebels and government agree ‘cessation of hostilities’ to allow humanitarian aid to reach millions in need.

Bloomberg:

Hundreds of Ethiopian troops converged on a town near the border of the northern Tigray province, days after the government and rebels from the region agreed to a humanitarian truce after almost 17 months of fighting. 

Over the past few days, 32 buses carrying soldiers were seen in Kobo in Amhara state, south of Tigray, some of whom may be replacing personnel who were being rotated, Addisu Wedajo, the town’s mayor, said by phone. 

While the additional forces may help facilitate the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to allow aid to be disbursed to millions of people who need it, their presence may also place the truce at risk. 

“Neither the people nor the regional government have adopted the truce,” Addisu said. “There is a fear that we will be at risk if the federal forces move, so everyone is holding their ground.” 

Al Jazeera:

Tigrayan rebels have agreed to a “cessation of hostilities”, a turning point in the nearly 17-month war in northern Ethiopia following the government’s announcement of an indefinite humanitarian truce a day earlier.

In a statement sent to AFP early on Friday, the rebels said that they were “committed to implementing a cessation of hostilities effective immediately,” and urged Ethiopian authorities to hasten the delivery of emergency aid into Tigray, where hundreds of thousands face starvation.

Reuters:

Ethiopia’s government on Thursday declared an immediate, unilateral truce in its conflict with rebellious Tigrayan forces to allow aid into the northern province, although it was not clear how it would enforce it.

“The government of Ethiopia hopes that this truce will substantially improve the humanitarian situation on the ground and pave the way for the resolution of the conflict in northern Ethiopia without further bloodshed,” the government said in a statement.

The United Nations has said more than 90% of the 5.5 million Tigrayans need food aid.

Bloomberg:

Coming from a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Abiy Ahmed’s call for restraint and diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine might have attracted more attention if the Ethiopian prime minister hadn’t stained his laurels with the blood of his own people. Reports of hideous war crimes committed by his forces and those of his Eritrean allies against civilians in the rebel northern province of Tigray make a mockery of his appeals for nonviolence in other parts of the world.

ABC News:

As much of the world’s attention is focused on the bloodshed in Ukraine, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday there’s ”nowhere on earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat” than Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

The Guardian:

Ethiopia’s government said on Saturday it would act against the perpetrators after a video appeared on social media showing armed men, some in military uniforms, burning civilians to death in the west of the country.

The Ethiopia government communication service said in a statement on its Facebook page that the incident occurred in the Ayisid Kebele of Metekel zone in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, a site of frequent ethnic violence for more than a year in which hundreds of civilians have died.

“A horrific and inhumane act was recently committed … In a series of horrific images circulated on social media, innocent civilians were burned to death,” the statement read.

It did not say when the events took place or who was responsible.