Trigger warning: rape/sexual assault. Photos and video by lynseyaddario / In the Tigray region of Ethiopia, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding. As civil war escalates, millions have been displaced, thousands killed, and reports of human rights violations and atrocities are rampant—including mass rapes, executions, the intentional bombardment of civilians, and the flagrant looting of hospitals and clinics. As Mussie Tesfay Atsbaha, the Ayder Hospital’s chief administrator, based in Mekele, told us, “I never saw hell before but now I have.”
Senayit, pictured, was tied to a tree and sexually assaulted repeatedly over the course of 10 days. She fell in and out of consciousness from the pain, exhaustion, and trauma. At one point, she awoke to a horrifying sight: Her son, along with a woman and her new baby, were all dead at her feet. “I saw my son with blood from his neck,” she says. Senayit crumpled into her tears, her fists clenched against her face, and howled a visceral cry of pain an...
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