Weight of Responsibility: The Promise and Perils of Covering Ethiopia’s Renewed War

A return to conflict

The September 23 fighting in Tigray broke a peace agreement between Ethiopia’s government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, signed nearly four years earlier. For the correspondent, the renewed conflict also brought back memories of reporting in November 2021.

Leaving Erbeti under fire

In Erbeti, families loaded belongings into small vehicles and left as the fighting appeared to draw nearer. Shelling began while the team was deciding its next move, and they departed hours after arriving because remaining there put their lives at risk.

They headed east towards Afdera on unpaved roads. Temperatures reached 50C (122F), and the correspondent recalled struggling to rest while thinking about the town they had left behind.

Reporting near the front

The team moved along difficult mountain roads across Afar, Amhara and Tigray. Routes that were passable in the morning could be unusable by evening, while reports gathered earlier in the day needed renewed checks.

As artillery grew louder, the team came within about 3km of the front line, filmed footage and recorded brief accounts from soldiers. The assignment ended suddenly when soldiers ordered them to evacuate.

Weighing competing accounts

Mekelle seemed subdued, with the usual police and security presence absent. The team saw soldiers welcomed on some streets, while other residents stayed quiet and appeared fearful about what might happen next.

The correspondent said reporting required separating direct observations from residents’ accounts and claims by the warring sides. Showing some residents welcoming government-backed troops without implying that everyone felt the same, and reporting fears about TPLF fighters without drawing firm conclusions, carried a risk of accusations of bias.

The team tried to maintain a routine, filming in the morning and preparing reports while tracking events. With exit routes uncertain, each decision about where to go and what to report carried both safety and ethical concerns.