Declan WalshVerified account

An Ethiopian prisoner of war camp at Adi Isher, 30 miles south of Mekelle. The soldiers had been captured a few days earlier, after heavy fighting, and their faces were clouded with so much: resignation, resentment, fear, fury. Clearly a huge loss for Ethiopia's military.pic.twitter.com/iuNtfM1iRU

I realized how quickly the war was moving when, that same day, an interview with a senior Tigrayan leader was cut short by cheering: the fighters had just shot down an Ethiopian military cargo plane. Hours later, we reached the still-smoking crash site.pic.twitter.com/xfoeSKE2uL

Col. Hussein Mohamed, the captured commander of Ethiopia's 11th infantry division, was remarkably frank. He said he wanted to commit suicide after being surrounded by Tigrayan fighters but junior officers stopped him. Now thinking about his wife and three young children in Oromiapic.twitter.com/5cj6TA2eIH

It was striking how many women were fighting on both sides of the war. This is Mahlet Yirdaw, 18, guarding an overturned ammunition truck. She said she joined the fight after occupying Eritrean fighters sexually assaulted women in her village.pic.twitter.com/dW2xuShyUI

Mekelle erupted into celebration after Ethiopian forces abandoned the city on June 28. For days, people feted Tigrayan fighters streaming in from the countryside where they'd been fighting a few days earlier.pic.twitter.com/9tszHjTDJV

Then thousands of Ethiopian POWs were paraded through downtown Mekelle as residents gathered to jeer or celebrate. The Ethiopians looked absolutely miserable, and it all seemed to bode poorly for the unity of the country.pic.twitter.com/rC1uCK44B8