Ethiopian army crushed in Tigray, Abiy Ahmed loses control

The swift defeat of the Ethiopian forces was a stunning reversal in a civil war that has led to the displacement of nearly two million people in the Tigray region, widespread hunger and reports that civilians were subjected to atrocities and sexual violence.

The capture of the Tigray regional capital by its ousted rulers this week was a dramatic setback for Ethiopia's government, diplomats and analysts say, opening a new chapter in a brutal war but by no means bringing it to an end.

The Ethiopian government’s inability to sustain its military offensive in the mountainous northern Tigray region was laid bare this week, as rebel forces chased their adversaries out of key cities.

Thousands of Ethiopian prisoners of war were paraded through the regional capital of Tigray yesterday as jubilant crowds lined the streets to jeer the captives and cheer the Tigrayan forces who only days earlier had routed one of Africa’s most powerful armies.

The parade of Ethiopian prisoners of war served as a pointed rebuke to Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who had proclaimed in a speech in the national capital, Addis Ababa, that reports of his troops’ defeat were “a lie.” He had declared a unilateral cease-fire, he insisted, for humanitarian reasons.

On Friday, the UN's acting humanitarian aid chief told members of the Security Council at a meeting in New York said that the situation in Tigray had deteriorated dramatically in recent weeks.

Officials said that 33,000 children were severely malnourished and a further 1.8m people were on the brink of famine as a result of the eight-month conflict.

Aid Reports indicate that the Ethiopian government has been blocking aid after Tigrayan rebels who took control of much of the northern region earlier this week. 

There has been no Internet, phone service or electricity in Tigray since Ethiopian troops retreated and that no food or fuel are being allowed in. Millions are depending on food aid for survival, and hospitals are using fuel-dependent generators to keep the power on.

U.N. agencies and aid groups also accused the Ethiopian military, or ENDF, of stealing critical equipment from their offices, which echoes previous allegations of government-aligned troops hijacking aid convoys and using both the aid and vehicles for their own purposes.