1- During the 1958 "Tigray Famine" Emperor Haileselesie refused to send basic emergency food aid to Tigray, even though he had the money, and over 100000 Tigrayans died.
2- During 1983- 1985 "Ethiopian Famine" 1.2 million Ethiopians died( majority Tigrayans) because the then Military government used food as a weapon of war.
Abiy is currently trying to use same tactic to destroy the people of Tigray by denying the existence of famine in Tigray as a delaying tactic to kill the people of Tigray.
Extracted from " Wikipedia - Tigray Province"
"The decline of Tigrayan ethnic population in Ethiopia (and in present-day districts like Addi Arkay (woreda), Kobo (woreda) & Sanja (woreda)), during Haile Selassie's rule is likely to have been his immense oppression & systematic persecution against non-Amhara ethnic people of Ethiopia (in particular, his immense systematic persecution of Tigrayans). For example, on the 1958 Tigray famine, Haile Selassie refused to send basic emergency food aid to Tigray province even though he had the money; so in consequence over 100,000 people died of the famine (in Tigray province).
Later on, the Mengistu Haile Mariam-led military dictatorship (Derg) also used the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia as government policy (by restricting food supplies) for counter-insurgency strategy, and for "social transformation" in non-insurgent areas (against people of Tigray province, Wello province and so on).Due to organized government policies that deliberately multiplied the effects of the famine, around 1.2 million people died in Ethiopia from this famine where majority of the death tolls were from Tigray province (and other parts of northern Ethiopia)."
Re: Past Ethiopian governments had been using famine to kill Tigrayans & Abiy looks to follow that trend!
You liken Governments as if they were God of Tigray. No, historically Tigray in Ethiopia is associated with drought and famine for more than a thousand year. Lack of rain, soil infertility, being hot bed of variety of insect pests, it's geographic location disadvantage to formation of rain cloud have been the most accountable factor for the impoverishment of Tigray not necessarily governments. That was why historically people from Tigray has been out migrated to the other part of Ethiopia, often mass out migration was practiced. Modern Ethiopia in fact created greater opportunity for Tigre people to have market and food accessible and find employment opportunities as well as resettle in the different part of the country. Unfortunately, their Woyane was blaming God's work on Tigray on human beings. For instance, during the 1977 famine, Woyane was stealing food aid given to Tigray and sold it for cash in Khartoum, Sudan while Tigray people were dying in tens of thousands. Even now, TPLF stole food aid from the hunger and making cash out of it. The USAID and the WFP already proved that Woyane is the number 1 reason for the starvation and death of Tigray people. Woyane and its tdf rats, in stead of farming in the rainy seasons and feed their mouth, they invaded Amhara in the productive season of Kiremt. They were stealing Amhara people. You may also add the culture of theft and plunder and lack of culture of work as factor for the starvation of Tigray. You have to talk about the big elephant in the room.
Re: Past Ethiopian governments had been using famine to kill Tigrayans & Abiy looks to follow that trend!
Braking the cycle of draught and famine from Tigray is the responsibility of Tigrayans and it is an outstanding assignment on the elites and government of the new Tigray. Considering how Israel has been able to transform a desert to bread basket with a little water, Tigray could be a net exporter of food using the Tekeze river and other rivers within it. However, we should not also forget the historical fact that successive Ethiopian governments have been trying to marginalize Tigray and use food as a weapon of war during famine and during civil war.