“People trekked for days, sleeping in the wilderness among scorpions and hyenas, just trying to survive.”
A deadly conflict has overtaken Ethiopia, yet it’s barely made headlines in the West. The country’s protracted civil war has continued unimpeded by outside intervention — even as reports surface describing rape, slaughter, and starvation tantamount to genocide.
We’ve got a bird’s-eye view of what’s going on — plus some heartrending insight from a couple who’ve experienced the horrific reality firsthand.
How did the violence begin?
At the beginning of November 2020, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, ordered a military assault in the northern Tigray region. His target was the region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The result has been a year-long battle that’s left famine and a slew of other atrocities in its wake — often committed by Ethiopian forces against citizens.
By November 2021, the Ethiopian army had suffered such heavy front-line casualties that the government began calling on ordinary citizens to join the fight against the Tigrayan rebels.
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