The Tigray region in northern Ethiopia is at the center of a civil war that broke out last November, after rebels there attacked a military base. Since then, the political fight has become an ethnic one, with troops no longer distinguishing civilians from rebel fighters.

NPR's Eyder Peralta visited the war-torn region in May and spoke with the people at the center of the conflict.

The United Nations says more than 400,000 people are now living in famine conditions in Ethiopia, putting them at risk of starvation if the country's civil war doesn't let up.

The United States is the country's largest foreign aid donor. And the person who controls that funding currently is Samantha Power, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She spoke with Ari Shapiro about she learned from her recent trip the area.

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