In early 2024, I traveled to Ethiopia with writer Alexis Okeowo for The New York Times Magazine to document the enduring impact of a civil war that, in many ways, never truly ended.
Returning to the three regions we covered felt both familiar and surreal. These were places I had visited before, yet they now carried the weight of recent conflict. At times, life appeared unchanged, offering glimpses of normalcy. But beneath the surface, grief lingered, and the echoes of what had transpired remained—a testament to both the resilience and the pain woven into these landscapes and their people.
Read the full story on The New York Times.
Our first day in Amhara, as we were driving north of Lalibela, we happened upon a Fano checkpoint. The militia members who pulled us over greeted us warmly after they recognized our driver, who was from the local community. When we asked to talk with them, they invited us to a bar across the road. Uniformed fighters poured into the outdoor seating space. They were communicating through walkie-talkies because the federal government had cut cell service. At one point, some of them flagged down two approaching passenger buses. Several people got off and started excitedly taking selfies with the militants, asking them to hold up their guns and the Amhara state flag — evidence of the immense support for Fano in the area. After the flurry of picture-taking, the passengers got back on the buses. As they did, the fighters asked them for donations.
Wagnew Aderaw, a Fano militia commander. “Ever since the current government took power, there have been killings and massacres targeting the ethnic Amhara,” he said. “And now its army is invading our province.
The Amhara region in Ethiopia remains engulfed in conflict..When we visited, much of the recent fighting between the federal government and Fano had taken place outside the town of Lalibela, in Ethiopia’s highlands. A site of pilgrimage, Lalibela is famous for its huge ancient churches carved into red volcanic rock. Most of the residents, who number 20,000, depend on tourism. But the tens of thousands of international tourists who used to visit every year are mostly gone.
Choma'a Hill in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region. The area witnessed profound suffering during the devastating conflict that erupted in November 2020. Over two years, the war claimed approximately 600,000 lives and left many more wounded.
Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region, faced a significant communication blackout during the conflict that erupted. This blackout, encompassing internet, telephone, and media access, was part of a broader strategy to restrict information flow from the region. The lack of communication severely hampered efforts to understand the full scope of the conflict and its humanitarian consequences.
Former residents of Abala town now live in an IDP camp on the outskirts of Mekelle. Displaced by the violence that erupted in December 2021, they are among the thousands forced to flee the ethnically mixed border town, where Afar and Tigrayan communities once coexisted.
Abala, a border town in the Afar region, became the epicenter of violence in December 2021, forcing thousands from its ethnically mixed Afar and Tigrayan communities to flee. Afar residents insisted they were not the perpetrators but rather the victims of the conflict.
Ali, a 45-year-old civil servant of Afar ethnicity, recounted the aftermath. He claimed that after the initial massacre, Tigrayan forces entered Abala, burned one of his family’s homes, and looted his possessions.
Halima Abdu Ali, a 30-year-old mother of two, is receiving aid at a WFP food distribution site in Berhale, Afar. She recently returned to her village after a year as an IDP in Semera, only to find it eerily deserted. Conflict forced her family to flee, and the presence of the TPLF led to personal loss, including the death of her uncle.
WFP supplies the food, while the Norwegian Refugee Council distributes it. In 2024, Ethiopia faces a hunger crisis, with 15.8 million people in need of food aid, including 4 million IDPs and 7.2 million experiencing severe food insecurity.
