>

It not 'forgotten' , people just don't care about it 
As Orwell said, War Is Peace. The norm is a state of constant war. Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Nigeria, Darfur, Myanmar, the list goes on. These are all conflicts happening right now across the world; there are plenty more . 
And maybe people do care, and we say Thats terrible. But what can we do? Most aid gets swallowed up in the conflict itself, through corruption or bad policy. We can't help those caught up in it, we can't change the situation, in an hour you will have forgotten all about it.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 92%. (I'm a bot)


The civil war in Ethiopia has resulted in the death of some 600,000 civilians, a staggering estimate for a conflict that has lasted only two years and has been focused on a single region, Tigray, of around six million inhabitants.
Placing a precise figure on the number of deaths caused by the war is difficult, as both sides tend to either exaggerate or play down fatalities.
Taking into account the estimated numbers, the war in Ethiopia is one of the deadliest of the 21st century.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: war^#1 Tigray^#2 death^#3 international^#4 conflict^#5 >

Why was there a civil war in the first place? It says the Tigray wanted independence but doesn’t say why.
I saw a protest about this in London and there were signs claiming the UAE had involvement. >

To summarize quickly, the Tigrayan party, the TPLF, used to rule over Ethiopia, along with some other ethnic parties. From 2018 onwards, this coalition broke down and Ethiopia went on a path of democratization, which culminated with Ahmed Abiy election as prime minister. He would win the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the conflict with Eritrea, but other ethnic groups, such as the Tigrayans, did not join his ruling coalition, mainly because Tigray, at the border with Eritrea, resented the peace plan.
in 2020 the TPLF went on to hold elections for the Tigray region, but Ahmed wanted to delay the elections because of COVID, pretty much indefinetly. TPLF went ahead with the vote anyway, and tensions soared. It's a bit unclear what happened, but it seemed Tigrayan militias attacked an Ethiopian Defence Forces (EDF) base. EDF invaded the region and quickly secured the capital, along with Eritrea which invaded from the north. After months of fighting, the EDF were broken by TPLF resistance who went on the march to the Ethiopian capital, having secured an alliance with other ethnic militias like the Oromo liberation army, but they were stopped before they could get there, and pretty much retreated into Tigrayan borders.
The hostilities between the EDF and TPLF are now pretty much over, but Eritrea still holds on to some tigrayan towns, the OLA is still a problem for the central government, and the war (and mostly the famine induced by it EDIT: the famine was mainly caused by a blockade from the federal government) have taken an absurdly massive toll on the country, mostly in Tigray.
If anyone has corrections/additions don't hesitate to correct me >

So the deaths are more from famine than the actual fighting itself? Non-combatants being starved to death en masse? >

It's a fairly similar situation to Yemen, with the government (or what's left of it at this point) and their allies (like Saudi Arabia) exerting a blockade over Houthi-controlled regions, which is slowly killing off hundreds of thousands of people through starvation & disease >

I don’t think I have the words to describe how truly awful that is. >

It's very human >

Humanity is not a friendly race overall. >

Made in gods image is a scary thought >

It’s an honest thought though. God, at least the biblical god is a resounding asshole with an fragile ego the size of the galaxy.
Ancient Israelis get bored and throw a party! 
God: “Wait a minute! You guys started using a godly dildo while I was out making laws for you?! Now go in a wasteland for 40 years until you all die of old age, hunger and disease! I will feed you mostly what’s necessary and WHEN i decide, and if anybody ever claims any degree of authority and independent thought EVER, I will ensure they die here too!” 
Ancient israelís: “But lord! The land we are going is already populated with normal looking people! Can we just go and say hello!? It’s been 40 years, we would like to just chill with someone for a bit” 
God: NOPE! “Look, this land is now yours, KILL EVERYONE EVEN THEIR CALF and pets everything!” 
Ancient Israelis: “Even the kids?” 
God: “did I stutter?”
Oh and This is the Abrahamic god being good to “its people!” >

Estimates by European institutions and academics say over half a million non-combatants have died during the Tigray conflict as a result of a government blockade that kept out humanitarian aid. >

And you 'haven't heard much about it' precisely because that was intentional. The Ethiopian government enforced an informational and humanitarian blockade to keep the world ignorant and/or unable to help.
This was a civil war, and the government wanted to make sure it stayed 'civil'... Just putting this out there before fingers of those responsible inevitably point outward. >

I don't think the Ethiopian government have that much influence to cause such silence.
Its more that western news outlets are focusing on the russo Ukraine war because of its close proximity. And people generally care more about things that are happening relatively close to them. >

The Ethiopian thing was already a huge issue before the Ukraine war started. I have a friend whose parents from Tigray fled the country in August of 2021 as things had become horrific. Yet it wasn’t in the news at all and I wouldn’t have known a thing about it without the personal connection. >

It started right during the first COVID crisis, so it's not that surprising that it went under the radar, and then it's also far away from us, on a country with very low exportations outside of china. Hopefully it starts being more vocal, but it's unlikely. >

600,000 deaths in about a year? That could make it one of the deadliest years since the early 1950s. >

It’s been going on for more than a year. There were videos of it on here around Covid. Then the Junta issue in Myanmar. Then Ukraine went full send. Covid. And the Ethiopian gov basically cutting off that region from the rest of the world.   Plus add just about every country who would give a damn and could do anything of use trying to shluff off right wing authoritarianism.
Easy to see how “another African civil war” got push back. Add on boko being a continued issue and there you have it. >

Also Yemen >

Indeed. My bad. 
Literally my point proven by me. A person can only store so much knowledge and access it with regularity. There’s a giant gang war going on in Mexico as we speak rn as well. With better arms then most conflicts anywhere outside of Europe/N.America posses. >

There must be some centralized neutral tracker/resource for updates on global conflicts, yes? Perhaps I'll see if I can answer my own question, and edit.
Without looking at it thematically, I can understand the whiplash. It's no wonder things fall off the radar, and I wish I personally could refocus on how I batch my information. I don't like missing things. >

It's very big. The blockade was a deliberate tactic to transform Tigray into another Biafra. It is a war crime to deny food to civilians, but it doesn't appear that anyone will be held accountable for it "declares Nyssen. In a 221-page report titled, "Ethnic Cleansing: A Report from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch," published last year "We'll drive you out of this country. >

The Ethiopian Government isolated the region and there was a strong propaganda engine used to falsify all reports coming out of there. Ethiopian people in the United States were even confused about what exactly was happening, who had initiated what, and who was involved. >

Can the African Union do anything? >

African Union soldiers are notorious for committing heinous crimes when deployed to countries in times like these. Rape, murder, abduction, you name it. Some countries won’t even allow African Union soldiers younger than 45 to enter regardless of the situation. >

I am ignorant about this. Is it so? And what role does African Union military hold and how is it organized?
I thought it's more of a economic/diplomatic platform, something like lightweight EU. >

The African Union doesn't have a standing military. Members may be persuaded to send their soldiers to police conflicts under the AU banner, e.g. AMISOM (African Union Mission for Somalia), with majority Kenyan troops. >

For context this is the same way UN, NATO, EU troops work as well >

I was gonna say. Sounds true for Western military intervention as well. Take all the UN peacekeepers raping Haitian women >

The UN peacekeepers you're referring to were Sri Lankan, not sure how you'd get "Western" in that situation >

This is a bit presumptuous. The Second Congo War in the early 2000s killed millions by some estimates. The death toll for the famine in the Yemen War hasn't even begun to be counted. Both the Syrian and Iraq Wars have killed more than 600,000. >

Some estimates for the American invasion of Iraq are over 1 million dead civilians. It's depressing that there are so many regional conflicts and so much state violence that it's impossible to say which has hurt people the most in the last 20 years, and difficult to even keep track of them all. >

I genuinely don't know what anyone is meant to do about this. Even this article doesn't seem to be suggesting anything. They call it 'forgotten' but I think it's more like we collectively pay more attention when it feels like we can make a difference. Not just to wars, but social problems, environmental ones, anything. >

Yeah, to all the people whining why "Western media" doesn't focus on this, it's difficult to focus when there's virtually no new information. This isn't helped by the Ethiopian government's media blackout and crackdown on journalists. 
It's also different from the Myanmar civil war or Ukraine, because there's no clearly defined aggressor here. Tigrayan forces fucked up their own civilian population by launching attacks towards Addis Ababa and Abiy Ahmed made the government side irredeemable by responding with disproportionate brutality, including inviting a neighbouring country's (Eritrea) military. >

Western powers don’t have a good track record with interfering in countries internal disputes (Middle East) so they kinda have to stay out of these conflicts >

Then by staying out they get accused of not caring. No matter what the west does, it's the wrong thing. >

This is 100% what happens with the US. In every conflict you either have one side saying "why is the US getting involved with our affairs" or the other side saying "Why doesn't America help us?". Occasionally you can replace the US with France in their former colonial territories. Weirdly I never hear requests for help from the UK >

Africa as a whole is so underreported it's alarming. >

Even within Africa we are oblivious of each others struggles >

We have another 77 years till the end of the century. I think we can do better. Sorry for the cynicism >

Water / imigration wars will be fun.... >

Ethiopia is currently damming the Nile. Egypt has threatened war. China is paying for the dam. The US prop up the Egyptian military as a method of soft power in the area... >

While these statements are not surprising, ima need some sauces. >

Oooh this should be interesting >

Just so some people have some information.
Tigray is one of the Ethiopias largest tribe. Despite not being the largest by population, the previous leaders of Etiopia have all been from Tigray. 
Abiy Ahmed, current Ethiopian president, was the first non-Tigray leader elected. He belongs to the biggest tribe, Oromo. Tigray leaders were not happy with him, his laws, and his peace with Eritrea.
2020 was the election year in Ethiopia, but due to Covid-19 Abiy Ahmed decided to not have it that year. Every region accepted the ruling except Tigray tribe. 
They held their own vote in their own province and declared new Tigray president. They tried to get the two nearest provinces to join them. This is when the Ethiopian army started invading the Tigray region.
Meanwhile, the Eritrean president decided to deport Tigray tribe still living within their international recognized border without any plans to leave. During the 30 year independence war with Ethiopia, the Tigray tribe were the leaders of Ethiopia. 
There’s also a lot of separate infighting starting between Muslims and christians there as well. The hate rhetoric of different religions that has infected previous African nations is now at their door, while both countries fight to silence illegitimate vote/president. As with most wars, it’s the common folk that suffer most.
TLDR: The fighting started when Tigray province held their own presidential vote during Covid-19’s lockdown. Leaders haven’t backed down since, hence the siege. >

this article is biased as hell, it wants to imply really hard that the rebels are the good guys, even starting out in the first paragraph saying the government "dared to declare war on them".
now, it's a complicated conflict, in real life there's rarely good and bad guys, but using the words "dared to" is irresponsible and unacceptably biased when referring to an anti-democratic violent rebel group whose major grievances include the fact the government ended a war (for which the president won the Nobel peace prize), that the country is democratic now, and they no longer have racial supremecy because of this... a war the rebels started by attacking the military openly, by the way.
The government response was brutal, but the rebels are basically racists who want an ethnic dicatorship with them in charge and want to re-start a war, they aren't the good guys the article tries so hard to make them. >

The TPLF also started the fighting by attacking an EDF base. >

Even before 2020 this was going on. I was in West Africa in 18-19 and Ethiopian refugees were refused entry into their neighboring countries as they tried to avoid conflict. >

1 million Iraqis died in the Iraq war >

Yes, you are missing something. The US/Iraq war was perpetrated by the United States. And thus it doesn’t count because they are geopolitically aligned with the interests of the people publishing and reading this article. >

The Armenian Genocide of 1915 was one of the worst and not recognized till today as a genocide >

Same as England’s genocide of India and Iran >

Idiotic take. >

will u take some effort to explain why it's an idiotic take ?? >

Because it's his land probably.
These fuckers only see stuff negative when it's dark skinned or Muslims doing bad stuff. >

So I guess the 1 million civilian casualties in Iraq number was blown out of proportion? >

No, just ignored. >

Not to mention the 12 years of war with Eritrea that no one cared to notice. >

And yet the population of Ethopia is still growing like mad, doubling every 25 years. >

If children have relatively low likelihood of reaching adulthood, fertility rates remain high. >

That's why population growth was so small for most of history. Today people are reaching adulthood, so when fertility remains high, populations explode. >

These guys have been fighting pretty much all the time since World War II. 
It’s not really surprising that people are ignoring them. >

Here I thought I was doing an okay job of keeping up with global news (and no, not just the Russia/Ukraine war…) >

There are something like 60 wars currently ongoing IIRC, but the majority started over a decade ago, and is no longer current news. 
Instead of saying google it, I'll do it myself and link a wikipedia article about current wars. It says 63 ongoing conflicts so my what I read probably references the same source as this wikipedia article. >

3 major and 2 of them are civil wars >

And yet Abiy Ahmed received a Nobel peace prize...
The legitimacy of the prize needs a serious review. >

It's been a joke since they gave it to Obama >

Henry Kissinger got the Nobel peace prize back in the 70s. Reckon that ranks as far worse than Obama getting it. >

Heck even Mother Theresa and Su Kyi winning it was controversial. That prize is riddled with controversies. >

Deadliest... So far!   Homer.jpg >

I wouldn’t say its forgotten, it just has less impact globally than the Ukrainian war and less chance of escalating into border spanning misery.
Edit: spelling. >

I think difference is there are no good guys here. TPLF screwed over their own citizens starting a war when it was clear they would be unable to get their way politically.
Eritrea used this as an opportunity to take out their rage on the TPLF and Tigray in general for the previous war when TPLF was in power.
Ethiopia government forces seem quite content to let Tigray rot and starve in the name of ensuring they are unable to rise to power again. And has been either unwilling or unable to stop elements of it's own coalition who seek revenge on the TPLF from taking it out on Tigray.
Ukraine is a clear good vs. evil conflict. Tigray is an everyone sucks conflict. >

So, the Iraq war never happened? >

When asked for comment, the ghost of Madeleine Albright said "the price was worth it". >

Proxy wars in Africa. Coming soon. >

They have no buying power. The world doesn't care.
100 people die in say, Germany, you won't hear the end of it for weeks.
600 000 people die in Ethiopia, it's an article in a dying media like BBC News. >

I wouldn't say forgotten, more like under reported or ignored entirely. >

It's hard to know these things with so much silence from the press and cover ups from the government, I think this is a modern tragedy. >

There is no cover up, but ultimately it's a civil war. What can you do about it? Foreign interventions are extremely unpopular nowadays. >

And there isent a clear 'good guy's vs 'bad guy' still horrible that no more attempt to help the common person to lessen the suffering and misery >

The international community did attempt to help
The combatants (using force) prohibited them from entering the country
So we would need to use military force in order to help.  Which, rightfully, gives most people pause. >

Somewhat misleading because the vast majority of deaths have been from the famine caused by the war. Military casualties are nowhere remotely close to the scale of the war in Europe >

So only the lives of those who got shot matter? The famine is a direct result of the war, thus the deaths it caused are caused by the war. >

This article is very biased. They blame Ethiopia for starting the conflict, but it was the TPLF that did. This article also assumes most, or even all, of the deaths were Tigrayan people, when that isn't the case.
Also, any aid that is sent to Tigray is confiscated by the TPLF rebels, which is why it is blocked. >

I can tell your second paragraph is a load of bull because the military dictatorship in my country uses the very same exact excuse.  
They block humanitarian aid by giving reason the rebels are taking it but in actuality the refugee camps are starving and it's the rebels who are trying to provide food. They even burnt 30+ civilians trying to provide aid alive including 2 UN workers. >

He's not wrong. The TPLF have been known to do this since the 80s. >

And are literally doing this now >

Unpopular opinion: the west has nothing to gain from helping in this war compared to the Ukraine/Russia conflict.
The West is not helping Ukraine because " it's the right thing to do". >

Ukraine war is not about gaining, it is about stopping. Europe (except Germany it seems) learnt from 1938 that dictator should not be allowed to move borders by in Europe force  unopposed.
last time that was allowed 80 million people died. So yeah...Ukraine war is a lot bigger deal than civil war in Africa >

It's not really about that though.
Ukraine is a buffer state between the west and Russia. Both sides want to control Ukraine because  from a military point of view it gives the side in control a big advantage over the other.
Ukraine has also a lot of natural gas that isnt being collected at the moment. Russia already took Crimea because of that. They dont want Ukraine/the West concurrencing their market share. The West would like that gas as a  alternative to Russian gas. 
If Russia loses it's gas revenue they basically go broke. >

No, that is just "West too!" Russian propaganda. Other side allows Ukraine to do their democratic choices, other one invades
"They don't want Ukraine/the West conquering their market share"
Doesn't make sense, currently they have lost most of their leverage of their gas because the invasion has forced west to get rid of dependency of Russians gas. Russia was much better off and more influential before the invasion. It wont be fixed even if they win >

This war is a good example for those who are furious that India or China doesn't treat the war in Ukraine with the same outrage we do.  
They don't have the same cultural, historical, or racial ties to Ukraine and Russia that we do, so they treat the war the same way we treat this war in Ethiopia -- they use it for their own economic and political advantage.  As for the people suffering there?  It's not on their radar, just like this war isn't on ours. >

Forgotten? Hardly mentioned >

I’ve only heard of bits of this. This is tragic. These people know no end to their suffering. How to fix? Aid? Military arms? Would they even accept the wests help? Is the military the problem or are the self righteous armed gangs determining the way society runs? >

I found it insane how this was such a huge and brutal conflict but barely any news outlets were reporting on it. I mean, I know why. The west didn't have any stakes in it so didn't care but still. Crazy how few people are aware of it. >

Forgotten??!! Never knew!!! >

Did this list forget about Iraq??? >

Jesus, how have I never heard of this? I live in Minnesota and we have a large population of Somali and Ethiopian people and this breaks my heart to see. >

And nothing is going to help them, the UN tried and failed due to corruption, drugs, bribery and even partaking in the illicit activities. 
It's a rough, rough conflict.