Caught in the crossfire, Ethiopian minority flees to Sudan

Violence has since sucked in various ethnic groups in bitter battles over land and spread from Tigray.

Dragged into a conflict not of their making, members of Ethiopia’s Qemant ethnic group say their only choice was fleeing to Sudan – marking another bleak turn in a widening war. “Houses were burned and people killed by machetes,” said refugee Emebet Demoz, who, like thousands of others, ran from her village last month. “We couldn’t even take the bodies and bury them.” Thousands have been killed since fighting erupted in November in Ethiopia’s northernmost Tigray region, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent in troops to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the regional ruling party, saying the move came in response to TPLF attacks on army camps.