Since last November, whilst we've been in and out of lockdowns and taking every precaution

to try to save lives, in another part of the world, fear has taken a very different

form.

Thousands have died as a result of fighting, but getting caught in the crossfire with

government soldiers is just one risk faced by some 5 million civilians there in need

of food assistance.

We grie in Northern Ethiopia.

The last few months have seen massacres, torture, horrendous cases of mass rape, and now the

threat of famine looms large over the region.

I think all the evidence is consistent with the worry that Eritrea in particular is using

starvation as a weapon of war.

You probably haven't heard about the horrors that have been unfolding into grie, and there's

a reason for that.

As families were destroyed and villages decimated, the people of Tigray were silenced too.

A media blackout was imposed, the internet was shut down, and journalists were banned

until recently.

People wanted to show us the sites of mass graves where either brothers or sisters, uncles

or children were buried.

They wanted to show us photos of their relatives who had been shot.

The Times has been to Tigray and seen the devastation first hand, the mass graves and

the lingering trauma.

This episode is not an easy lesson, but it is an important one.

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