Tigray’s Epidemic of Sexual Violence

In Tigray, sexual violence has become a key weapon in the civil war that began in November in the mountainous region of northern Ethiopia.
 
As of last week, 500+ Ethiopian women had formally reported sexual violence in Tigray—surely an undercount as hospitals see new cases daily.
 
A survivor named Mona Lisa said she and her grandfather were both shot after refusing a soldier’s demands that they have sex with each other. 
 
Amid reports like these, international outrage is mounting—and may finally be fueling a response.
 
This week, Ethiopia’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed acknowledged that the atrocities had become central to a war “he once promised would be swift and bloodless,” reports Declan Walsh in this harrowing, but necessary report. Ahmed pledged to hold perpetrators accountable. 
 
The New York Times