I'm Chloe Hadgemethau and you're listening to assignment on the BBC World Service.

This week I'm bringing you the story of Ethiopia's information war.

On the morning of February 8, 2021, Monday morning there was a knock in my door.

The night before I was working the whole night, I was so tired.

Lucy Cassas, an Ethiopian journalist and a war correspondent. And for the last year and a half

she's been covering the conflict in her country. But like most other journalists,

Lucy hasn't been able to get anywhere near the fighting, much of which has been contained

in and around the Northern Tigray region. In fact, it's even been challenging to speak

to people inside the war zone.

Then all communications are cut to the Tigray region, not internet, not form communication.

There is total blackouts.

That communications blackout's been in place on and off throughout this conflict.

And it's meant that the war has been woefully under-reported. You might not know much about

it. But you probably remember another war that happened in Ethiopia, decades earlier.

TPLF tanks captured from the government slogging it out with the artillery defending Safar,

the latest objective in an eight month rebel offensive that's rolled.

That civil war back in the 1980s involved the very same factions. Troops allied to the

central government, fighting against the forces allied to the Tigray people's liberation

front, the TPLF.

During that earlier conflict, images broadcast of starving children in the horrific famine

brought on by the war galvanized the world. Pop stars raised millions through live aid

concerts.

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