Desperate hunger in Tigray pushes thousands into the hands of kidnappers and smugglers

If he had finished his studies, Aregawy Tekle Birham, 23, believes he would never have left Tigray. Sitting on a stone step outside his old primary school in the mountainous village of Gendefru in northern Ethiopia, Aregawy recounts his decision to emigrate with regret.

“I couldn't find a job here because I only studied in fourth grade,” he said, pulling dry grass stalks from the ground and breaking them. “This school didn't teach more and traveling to another was too expensive. I thought I would find work in Saudi Arabia. But when I reached the border, they imprisoned me for three years. »

The only unusual part of Aregawy's story is that he returned home. The rest is common to thousands of young Tigrayans who are leaving the country en masse. A regional survey found that 29,600 young people aged 15 to 35 had left the country since the Tigray war ended in November 2022. But that assessment only covered just over half of the region's districts. There are 750,000 Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia, 450,000 of whom entered illegally, the UN estimates. From Arab countries, some are trying to reach Europe.

Many young Tigrayans have lost all hope for the future. During the catastrophic two-year military operation launched by the Ethiopian federal government against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), invading forces shelled, burned and looted the region, decimating its infrastructure. Some 600,000 people died and 2.5 million were internally displaced.

The federal government has imposed a de facto blockade on Tigray. It has denied people access to banking services, fuel, telecommunications, electricity and limited humanitarian aid. In 2023, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) suspended deliveries for five months after supplies were stolen. Authorities later confirmed that 1,400 people died of starvation during this period.

The 2022 Pretoria peace agreement has not achieved all of its objectives. The Amhara regional government occupies the western area of ​​Tirgay, as well as areas to the south. Eritrean forces, allied with the Ethiopian government, control the northern border of Tigray. A Tigray regional government official, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of damaging relations with the federal government, told the Telegraph that Tigray was effectively still cut off because there is only one access corridor.