Along a path on the outskirts of Abiy Adi, in central Tigray, Araya Gebretekle tells his story, tragic in its simplicity. He had six sons. He sent five of them to harvest millet in the family’s fields. Four never came home.

When Ethiopian soldiers arrived in the village in February, “my sons didn’t flee,” says Araya, wiping his eyes with his white headscarf. “They didn’t expect to be killed while harvesting.” But the soldiers aimed their weapons at his sons, and a female soldier gave the order to shoot. “Finish them, finish them,” she said. The brothers pleaded for their lives. “We’re just farmers,” they said. “Spare one of us to harvest and deal with the animals,” they begged. The soldiers