Ethiopia conflict deaths eclipses Ukraine, Global Peace Index reveals

Higher number of conflict deaths registered in Ethiopia than Ukraine eclipsing the previous global peak during the Syrian war, according to a new Global Peace Index report released by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP).
According to the report, including a brutal two-year war in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia that ended with a peace deal in November 2022, conflict deaths from global conflict increased by 96 percent, highest levels, in the century causing world peacefulness to decline.
As indicated, Ethiopia was ranked 151th peaceful country from 163 countries with the war between the government and the TPLF group noted as one of the largest armed conflicts of the globe in the last five years.
The war in Tigray intensified with over 100,000 conflict deaths recorded between August and October 2022. “The final three months of the war saw major battles involving human wave tactics that resulted in 104,000 conflict deaths while disease and famine related deaths were conservatively estimated at over 200,000. This was the most violent conflict event in the history of the GPI and most violent year in a single state since the Rwandan genocide. Violence also surged in Oromia, leading to a shift in the conflict from the North to the South of the country after the peace agreement,” read the report.
“The conflict in Ethiopia has been largely hidden from the media because of domestic media restrictions and internet blackouts. This has coincided with US and UN aid organizations stopping food shipments because of corruption in the food supply chains,” claims the report.
As indicated on the report, the war has cost Ethiopia 37.5 billion dollars in 2022 and 30 billion in 2021. The global economic impact of violence increased by 17% or $1 trillion, to $17.5 trillion in 2022, equivalent to 13% of global GDP.
According to the index, the world’s leading measure of peacefulness reveals that the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated for the ninth consecutive year, with 84 countries recording an improvement and 79 a deterioration. “This demonstrated that the deteriorations were larger than the improvements, as the post-COVID rises of civil unrest and political instability remain high while regional and global conflicts accelerate,” the document cited.
As analyzed on the index, 79 countries deteriorated in the ‘Ongoing Conflict’ domain, with conflict related deaths increasing by 96% compared to the prior year. Conflict deaths are now at the highest level this century while the global number of refugees and internally displaced people continues to rise; there are now 15 countries with over 5% of their population displaced.
Iceland is said to remain as the most peaceful country, a position it has held since 2008, followed by Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and Austria. For the sixth consecutive year, Afghanistan is the least peaceful country, followed by Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Highlighting the shifting dynamics of conflict, both Afghanistan and Syria recorded improvements in peacefulness.
As stated also on the report, drones are being increasingly used in conflicts, including in Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Myanmar. The total number of drone attacks increased by 41% in 2022, with the number of different groups using drones increasing by 24%.
The deterioration in the external conflicts fought indicator indicates an increase in external actors becoming involved in internal conflicts. There are now 91 countries with scores that deteriorated, up from 58 in 2008. Of these, 91 were acting alone in an external conflict, 33 in a small coalition, and 45 in a large coalition of ten or more countries. Most conflicts involved countries offering support to an existing government in its conflict with an internal armed rebel or terrorist group.
The rise in global conflict led to a deterioration in the deaths from internal conflict indicator, with 47 countries reporting at least one death from conflict on the 2023 GPI.
Political instability had the third largest average deterioration and has deteriorated every year for the past five years. Despite the deterioration in conflict indicators, 118 countries improved their financial commitment to UN peacekeeping funding, marking the biggest improvement of any GPI indicator since the index’s inception.
The relative level of military expenditure improved for the second consecutive year, with 92 countries reducing their military spending as a percentage of GDP. However, military expenditure still accounts for the greatest share of the total economic impact of violence. The average score on the violent demonstrations indicator improved for the first time since 2016, with 59 countries recording an improvement compared to 43 which recorded deterioration.