An eyewitness account of atrocities in Tigray

"I had never heard of hyenas eating dead people, so many dead that you couldn't bury them."

Tigray people.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock, AP Images)

H.A., which is what he has asked me to call him because of the very real threat of reprisal against his friends and relations abroad, knows what violence looks like. Born to a well-to-do family in Addis Ababa, he was imprisoned by the Derg communist junta that ruled from 1974 until 1991 before coming to this country with his parents. He is familiar with torture, and with Manchurian Candidate-style brainwashing techniques.

So when he told me that what is going on in Ethiopia now is worse than anything he has ever seen in his native country, and far worse than what had been reported in Western media until very recently, he was worth taking seriously: "I had never heard of hyenas eating dead people, so many dead that you couldn't bury them."

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.