Ethiopia is falling apart, but Abiy still has a choice

By allowing much-needed aid to reach starving Tigrayans, the Ethiopian PM may prevent his country’s disintegration.

Getting aid to the starving in the Tigray region of Ethiopia is not just about saving lives, it is about whether Ethiopia will stay together as a country or disintegrate. When the Ethiopian army fled from the Tigrayan capital Mekelle on Monday, it left the region in the hands of the fighters of the Tigray Defence Forces or TDF (the armed wing of the former governing party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front or TPLF). Of Tigray’s six million people, more than five million need emergency assistance and, according to the United Nations, 350,000 are already in famine conditions. Pre-school children are most at risk, as their small bodies are unable to last long without essential nutrients. An estimated 30,000 children could perish from hunger over the next few months. And if the aid effort is not resumed – and stepped up – that death toll could easily be 10 times higher.