Abstract

Over the past four years, the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia has endured one of the most devastating wars of recent decades. Since the outbreak of the conflict in November 2020, nearly one million civilians are estimated to have perished due to massacres, enforced disappearances, rape, sexual violence, and deprivation of food and medical care.

Despite the signing of a ceasefire agreement two years into the war, civilians in the region continue to suffer, as violence persists in less overt but equally destructive forms. This presentation examines how ceasefires in the Tigray war, rather than alleviating civilian suffering, have paradoxically exacerbated it by serving primarily as symbolic gestures of peace. These ceasefires are often used to reduce diplomatic pressure, superficially addressing visible atrocities while failing to resolve the systemic violence and human suffering underpinning the conflict.

In a context of genocidal intent, the cessation of aerial bombings or overt military actions is frequently celebrated by the international community as progress toward peace. However, the fundamental laws and norms of armed conflict are routinely violated. This premature celebration creates a false narrative of stability, obscuring the harsh realities faced by those most affected. The resulting global discourse diminishes the lived experiences of survivors and perpetuates cycles of suffering under the guise of peace.

Under this veneer of progress towards peace, hundreds of thousands of survivors remain trapped in hellish conditions in displacement camps and refugee centres, while others struggle to rebuild their lives in a devastated region. This analysis highlights the need for a deeper understanding of how ceasefires, far from signalling peace, can serve as tools to perpetuate structural violence and suffering.

Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel is a human geographer with an interdisciplinary focus on how politics, the state, and market actors shape relationships between people and their environments. My research broadly explores social and environmental justice, the politics of violence, humanitarianism, and conservation, with a particular emphasis on how policy and power dynamics influence lives and livelihoods in contested landscapes. I hold an MPhil in Development Studies and a PhD in Human Geography from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where I also served as a postdoctoral fellow for two years and as an associate professor of human geography for a year until September 2024. Before beginning my doctoral studies at NTNU in 2016, I worked as a lecturer at Mekelle University in Tigray, Ethiopia. Currently, I am a Lecturer in Environment and Development at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.