Dec 2020. The Ethiopia Tigray Conflict

Before shelling by Ethiopia’s army ripped through Humera in early November, life in the airy, agricultural city in Tigray was idyllic, says Brhane Haftu, a geography teacher. “I was rich, not because of money, but happiness. I had my home, my own cellar, my TV, my kitchen, my refrigerator,” says the 31-year-old, flipping through pictures on his smartphone of his wife and five-year-old daughter. “I didn’t even recognise how good things were for me.” From the distant vantage of a growing refugee camp in Hamdayet, across the Sudanese border, vague outlines of Tigrayan structures, and the life it offered, faintly emerge from the skyline. Yet while visible, for many, any prospect of a return home feels remote. Haftu and his daughter are among 3,000 in the camp. His wife remains alive in Tigray, he hopes: a communications blackout means it’s three weeks since they last spoke. “Now I have nothing. I have one yellow T-shirt, one pair of jeans, one pair of trainers. I wash it each day and wear it the next day.”