The Brief — Europe’s forgotten war

An ailment known as war coverage fatigue afflicts the media and the wider public worldwide as, eventually, people simply tire of watching and reading about bloodshed and slaughter.

Nearly eight months after the start of the Russian invasion, newspapers and broadcast media no longer carry hourly updates from Ukraine. But unfortunately, there’s more than one war in the world, and one fierce war – which also affects Europe – is being waged under a near news blackout.

The fighting between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front resumed in September after a six-month ceasefire.

Though media access to Tigray – where a complicated war between Ethiopian federal forces, with the support of Eritrea, and Tigrayan separatist rebels – has been tightly restricted by the Ethiopian authorities, reliable reports indicate that there have been tens of thousands of battlefield deaths in the last month alone, and war crimes committed on a grand scale.

The civil war in northern Ethiopia does not have the immediacy for Europe that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine does, but its repercussions will be felt here. Ethiopia is the most populous country in east Africa, and hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping war will put pressure on the neighbouring countries. Some will no doubt attempt to cross the several thousand kilometres to North Africa and then the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.

The humanitarian crisis caused by the war has also been exacerbated by the worst drought in East Africa in a generation. The World Bank has estimated that between 10 and 15 million in Ethiopia face acute food insecurity, while 7.5 million people in neighbouring Somalia face famine in the coming months.

The Tigrayan war is also a major failure by the western diplomatic community, which awarded Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the 20-year cold war with Eritrea in 2019, just a year before fighting in Tigray began. That Abiy was then, rightly seen as positive and reforming prime minister is just one of the tragedies in this war.

In a speech delivered to MEPs earlier this week, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said that the EU was “appalled by the gravity and scale of human rights violations and abuses, perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, since its beginning.”

“Those allegations must be investigated, and accountability ensured. There will be no durable peace, no reconciliation, without justice for the victims,” he said.

The EU also plans to present a resolution demanding that the UN Human Rights Council renews the mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia. US special envoy Mike Hammer has also visited the region again this week while Abiy’s government has flatly rejected any role for the UN expert group.

But the international community has offered nothing beyond words. Abiy has not been sanctioned, nor have his military leaders, or Eritrea’s.

Faced by the Ethiopian government’s refusal to entertain peace talks until the Tigrayan rebels responsible for – it says – insurrection, have been defeated, and millions of people either killed or displaced, Europe and the US have done little beyond send humanitarian aid, much of which has been blocked from reaching those in need by the Abiy government.

Unlike Ukraine, Tigray is not on the EU’s doorstep. But that is no excuse for inaction.

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The Roundup

As leaders from over 40 European countries gathered for a new continental forum on Thursday (6 October) to bring Europe closer amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and a looming energy crisis, the question remains whether the format risks becoming a talking shop.

In a fresh four-way mediation effort to resolve the stand-off between Yerevan and Baku, stakeholders announced the EU will send a ‘civilian mission’ to Armenia to help delineate borders with Azerbaijan.

The EU must scale up its emergency humanitarian assistance to countries in the Horn of Africa which are facing famine following the worst droughts in a generation, MEPs urged the European Commission.

Member states must also step up to their commitments on refugee resettlement, as only 7,821 had been resettled across the bloc by the end of August, out of a promised 20,000 this year.

Several EU countries proposed limiting volatility in the gas market by introducing a “dynamic price corridor” to prevent prices from going too high or too low while still ensuring Europe can purchase the gas it needs on world markets.

Germany’s federal network authority has warned of a very serious situation should gas consumption fail to fall, following high household gas consumption despite a period of warm weather.

Meanwhile, the German government published the framework for its biomass strategy, which aims to solve the conflict between biomass use versus electrification, guarantee food security and set standards for strategies in other EU countries.

A small town near the French city of Nantes could soon welcome a new anaerobic digester benefitting up to 200 farmers, but locals oppose the plan over concerns of environmental harm.

EU negotiators met on Thursday to continue talks on the directive set to make salaries transparent, in an effort to reduce the gender pay gap across the bloc.

The European Commission’s health policy is just a first step, as it needs to be complemented by increasing the collaboration of the member states in the health field, Vytenis Andriukaitis told EURACTIV in an interview.

A French court on Thursday substantially lowered a fine against iPhone maker Apple Inc for alleged anti-competitive behaviour to €372 million from €1.1 billion previously, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 70 on Friday, amid fawning congratulations from subordinates and a lacklustre summit he organised in St. Petersburg with the leaders of former Soviet Republics.

And finally… don’t forget to check out today’s Tech and Agrifood Briefs, as well as our last Politics Brief – which from next week will become EU Politics Decoded.

Look out for…

• The informal meeting of the European Council to discuss energy, economy, and Russia’s war in Ukraine
• A ministerial meeting of the Coalition of European countries in the fight against serious and organised crime

Views are the author’s.

[Edited by Alice Taylor/Nathalie Weatherald]