Tigray: War at the expense of women

Hundreds of thousands on the run

The civil war between the Tigray regional government and the central government of Ethiopia under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed continues to escalate. Hundreds of thousands are now on the run, living in hunger and threatened by war crimes. After the self-proclaimed Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) recaptured Tigray's regional capital Mekele, many are fleeing from the contested areas to Mekele.

Image: YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP

An internal displaced mother and daughter who fled violence in Ethiopia's Tigray region in Mekele, the capital of Tigray region, Ethiopia, on June 22, 2021

Threat of famine

According to the United Nations, more than 400,000 people in the region are affected by famine, while another 1.8 million people are on the brink of famine. Abiy is denying this, and has blocked deliveries of aid. UNICEF commented in August 2021: "This malnutrition crisis is taking place amid systematic destruction of the food, health, nutrition, water and sanitation infrastructure."

Image: AP

Mother holds her malnourished daughter in the treatment tent of a medical clinic in the town of Abi Adi, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, in May 2021

Scorched earth

The Ethiopian army is fighting side by side with soldiers from Eritrea — targeting not only the separatist fighters, but also the civilian population of Tigray. For Prime Minister Abiy, this is a means to break resistance in the Tigray region. Reports of war crimes and massacres are piling up. Burned-out cars and destroyed houses are part of the daily picture.

Image: GIULIA PARAVICINI/REUTERS

Villagers return from a market to Yechila town in south central Tigray walking past scores of burned vehicles, in Tigray, Ethiopia, July 10, 2021

Rape as a weapon

A new report by Amnesty International (AI) confirms that rape and sexual violence against women are apparently being used to deliberately destabilize the situation. According to AI, soldiers from Eritrea are also heavily involved in these acts. "They talked to each other. Some of them: 'We kill her.' Some of them: 'No, no. Rape is enough for her,'" recalled the woman pictured.

Image: Ben Curtis/AP/picture alliance

A woman who was says she was held captive and repeatedly raped by Eritrean soldiers in a remote village near the Eritrea border, speaks at a hospital in Mekele, Tigray

Massacres and makeshift graves

The bodies of fighters from both sides are everywhere. Sometimes they are buried at makeshift sites; sometimes they are dumped in rivers, or simply left on the spot. This picture shows the makeshift grave of an Ethiopian soldier.

Image: GIULIA PARAVICINI/REUTERS

Stones are arranged on a grave where a piece of paper says a soldier from Ethiopia's military is buried in the outskirts of Yechila in Tigray, Ethiopia, July 10, 2021

Youth fighters

Ever more young people are signing up for the resistance to oppose the combined forces of the central government and Eritrea. Many of the new TDF fighters are just teenagers. They face an unsure and possibly bloody future.

Image: YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP

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As the death toll rises and crimes abound, the civil war in Tigray is becoming ever more of a humanitarian disaster — particularly for women, who are being sexually assaulted en masse.