MEKELE – The memories are so painful that Birhanu Haile sometimes forgets to eat. He is one of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans clinging to a marginal existence after fleeing their homes amid a conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region that has left countless dead.
Birhanu lost his land. His house in western Tigray has been occupied by ethnic Amhara who now claim the area as their own. His wife and two children are now refugees in Sudan.
Two nephews were killed. Now he is the coordinator of this camp of some 7,000 people that has overflowed a secondary school in the Tigray capital, Mekele.
Life is grim even here. Weary families line up for pieces of flatbread and gravy, a meal that will be their lunch and dinner, then return to filthy classrooms