Investigative journalist Lucy Kassa has spent over two years documenting war crimes, including widespread sexual violence, in Ethiopia’s secretive civil war.
In the news media, war receives more attention than peace. But some wars get more attention than others. From November 2020 to November 2022, a civil war bloodier than Russia's war in Ukraine was fought in Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and millions were displaced. Yet depending on where you get your news, you may have heard very little about it.
One reason for the shortage of coverage was the communications blackout in Tigray. Ethiopia’s government shut down internet and phone communications across the region, and barred journalists from entering war zones.
But that didn’t stop our guest. Freelance journalist Lucy Kassa investigated some of the worst atrocities of the conflict, including those carried out by all sides. Her reporting helped show the world that Ethiopian troops’ actions inside Tigray amounted to an ethnic cleansing campaign. Her articles have been published in major international outlets, including The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and the LA Times.
While a peace deal was signed in November, Lucy continues to investigate reports of human rights violations in Tigray. She spoke with host Jamil Simon about how she verifies accounts, how she approaches interviewing survivors of sexual violence, what she sees as her role in the conflict, and what it will take for real peace to hold.
Follow Lucy Kassa on Twitter: @berhe_lucy.
Read Lucy’s report for Al Jazeera. “‘A Tigrayan womb should never give birth’: Rape in Tigray,” awarded a 2022 Amnesty International Media Award
Read Lucy’s account of the raiding of her apartment in 2021 by Ethiopian government agents
Learn more about the Tigray conflict
Start Here from Al Jazeera: The Conflict in Ethiopia
“How a new ‘Great War of Africa’ is raging under the cover of a media blackout,” by Will Brown, Lucy Kassa, and Zecharias Zelalem for The Telegraph
“Tigray forces in Ethiopia say 65% of fighters have left frontline,” by Al Jazeera
Making Peace Visible is a project of War Stories Peace Stories. Our mission is to bring journalists and peacebuilders together to re-imagine the way the news media covers peace and conflict, and to facilitate expanded coverage of global peace and reconciliation efforts. Join the conversation on Twitter @warstoriespeace and on LinkedIn at War Stories Peace Stories.
Making Peace Visible is hosted by Jamil Simon, and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Music in this episode by Podington Bear, Zero V, Doyeq, Meavy Boy, and Bill Vortex.