Middle East & Africa | The road not taken

A fragile ceasefire offers hope in Ethiopia

But it may collapse unless Tigray receives humanitarian aid

Apr 2nd 2022|ADDIS ABABA

THE ROAD to peace in Ethiopia runs for about 500km through some of the most inhospitable land on earth, from Semera in Afar to Mekele, the capital of the state of Tigray (see map). Cutting it is the front line in Ethiopia’s 17-month-old civil war between the forces of Abiy Ahmed, the national prime minister, and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party-cum-militia that runs Tigray. The road is the only route authorised by the government for aid shipments into Tigray, where hundreds of thousands are starving. No food has moved along it since the middle of December.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “The road not taken”