This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence.

Just a few years ago, Ethiopia’s leader was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, the nation is in the grips of a civil war, with widespread reports of massacres and human rights abuses, and a looming famine that could strike millions in the northern region of Tigray. 

How did Ethiopia get here?

Guest: Declan Walsh, the chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Thousands of Ethiopians have fled the country and given accounts of a devastating and complex conflict. A U.S. report found that officials are leading a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in the northern region of Tigray.
• United Nations agencies have said the crisis in the Tigray region had plunged it into famine. It’s  a starvation calamity bigger at the moment than anywhere else in the world.

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