Ethiopia wracked by internal war and inter-state conflict as famine rages in Tigray
On June 28, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a unilateral ceasefire in Tigray. This was a stark reversal of his declaration late November that he had defeated the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in a three week-long military campaign.
He has pulled his federal forces out of Mekelle, the capital of Tigray province, one of Ethiopia’s semi-autonomous, ethnically defined provinces in the north of the country, as well as other towns in the region, ahead of advancing Tigrayan fighters. It follows the ousting of his forces from Mekelle by TPLF fighters.