I would like to preface this post with a couple of notions. One, there are some sensitive topics that are mentioned, so discretion is advised. Two, this crisis which has been ongoing for a couple of years is one of the largest recent instances of mass genocide and is, therefore, very necessary to discuss and understand. This post will go into a detailed story of the context leading up to the civil war and the war’s effects on citizens in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Before delving into the current events that have been ongoing in Tigray, it is important to first gain an understanding as to where the conflict originated. Ethiopia has three main ethnic groups: the Oromo, Amhara, and the Tigray. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) ethnic minority made up the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which had authoritarian rule over the country up until 2018. They were led by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who led 27 years of repression. This led him to step down in 2018 and Abiy Ahmed was elected by the Amhara and Oromo ethnic groups, who made up most of Ethiopia’s population…