‘Weight of responsibility’: Promise and perils of covering Ethiopia’s war

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – On September 23, fighting erupted in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, shattering the peace agreement between the Ethiopian government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed nearly four years ago.The latest fighting between the federal government-backed Tigray Peace Force (TPF) and TPLF started in the Erbeti area of Ethiopia’s Afar region after the 2022 peace deal unravelled over disarmament and territorial claims.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Ethiopia’s Tigray war: Where do the UAE and Saudi Arabia stand?list 2 of 4Ethiopia announces instalment of interim government in Tigraylist 3 of 4Can diplomacy resolve longstanding Ethiopia-Eritrea differences?list 4 of 4Residents recount drone strikes in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray regionend of listFor me, the latest war is more than a story unfolding on television. It brought back painful memories of what I had experienced during my reporting in November 2021. The previous episode of fighting killed more than half a million people and displaced about 2 million others by the time the rival sides signed a deal to end the war in 2022.After I was assigned to cover the fighting, I was once a...