The dramatic turn of events in Syria’s 13-year civil war has consumed the world’s attention for the past few weeks. A lightning rebel offensive ousted the country’s long-ruling dictator, Bashar al-Assad, and created the opportunity to end the country’s lengthy internal conflict. With hostilities still unfolding in parts of the country, lasting peace is far from certain, but the possibility of it alone is welcome news.
Given the drama in Syria, it was easy to overlook positive developments in another long-running war. On Dec. 4, the Ethiopian government reached a ceasefire with the Oromo Liberation Army, or OLA. Conflict between the government and various rebel groups in the Oromia region has been ongoing since the early 1970s, with the fighting between the Ethiopian government and the OLA having persisted after the Oromo Liberation Front, or OLF, splintered off following a peace deal in 2018. The conflict in Oromia was in addition to Ethiopia’s war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which lasted from 2020 to 2022, and ongoing fighting in the Amhara region.
Sadly, there might be another reason that the ceasefire in Ethiopia attracted little attention, a reason with ominous implications for Syria and the other conflicts raging around the world: It didn’t last, as the terms of the agreement have already been violated. Moreover, the ceasefire only addressed one aspect of one of the conflicts afflicting Ethiopia and inflicting a devastating toll on its people.