Middle East & Africa | Down from the mountains

In Ethiopia’s civil war, Tigrayan forces take the offensive

The conflict has entered its most dangerous phase yet

|DESSIE

THE STREETS of Dessie, in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, are loud and bustling. So are its restaurants and bars. But as Ethiopia’s civil war edges closer, the mood is darkening. In the past week military-training camps have sprung up. Outside a hospital a tent has been erected; wounded soldiers lie on stretchers. Through mountain fog come the screams of ambulance sirens. Such is the tension gripping the place that when your correspondent visited, he was arrested almost immediately and held for several hours.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Down from the mountains”

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