Alms, Arms, and the Aftermath: The Legacies of Rebel Provision of Humanitarian Aid in Ethiopia

The 1983-1985 famine in Ethiopia is perhaps one of the most internationally recognized instances of acute human suffering. Although the international community's response to the crisis and the ways in which the famine reshaped the nature of humanitarian aid have been probed, less often discussed is that one of the most effective relief organizations delivering assistance--the Relief Society of Tigray (REST)--was the humanitarian wing of an insurgency, the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF). This article asserts that the process of responding to the famine amidst a protracted civil war left an indelible mark on the ways in which the TPLF approached domestic civil society and international assistance after war as a part of the governing party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front. This article describes the legacies of the rebels' wartime humanitarian activities. It asserts that REST's prominence as an organization, its role as a model and catalyst for other party-affiliated organizations, the government's suspicion of domestic civil society and efforts to strictly control international assistance, and its reliance on service delivery to bolster its domestic legitimacy are all legacies of the rebels' wartime governance. In doing so, this article calls for greater attention to the dynamics of rebels' wartime humanitarian activities and the post-conflict implications of this form of rebel governance.