Targeting the unarmed: Why Tigrian armed groups committed violence against civilian Amharas during the war in northern Ethiopia?

Targeting civilians is increasingly common in both interstate and intrastate armed conflicts. While there is extensive literature explaining why armed groups in civil conflicts target civilians-often those they may need for future support-this dynamic remains underexplored in the context of the Northern Ethiopian war of post-2018. Despite various studies detailing the harm inflicted by TPLF armed groups on the Amhara people, the motivations behind their targeting of Amhara civilians are not well understood. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the reasons behind the aggression towards civilian Amharas by Tigrian armed groups in the intra-state war in northern Ethiopia. Through interviewing individual victims, TPLF-ex-combatants directly, experts in the field, and analyzing diverse literary sources, the research uncovered that the civilian attacks were motivated by historical anti-Amhara narratives, the TPLF's oppressor-oppressed narrative, the TPLF's inherent nature of attacking civilians, and the utilization of such attacks as a military strategy to enhance its bargaining position in the conflict. The research findings suggest that most of the violence inflicted on civilian Amharas by Tigrian armed groups during the northern Ethiopian conflict were due to the TPLF's effective promotion of anti-Amhara narratives and propaganda among these groups, and the armed group's use of civilian violence as a war strategy to build their bargaining power. Therefore, the research recommends collaboration between elites and scholars in order to expose and create an opposing argument against the anti-Amhara narratives and demonization spread by outsiders and sustained by the TPLF within the country. The authorities should work to dismantle the divisive barrier among Ethiopians, erected by external forces and the TPLF, by fostering authentic national harmony and forgiveness, highlighting the importance of establishing fundamental values that can bring the country's diverse population together.