While civilians by the hundreds of thousands fled to makeshift camps, troop convoys rumbled into battle, hauling reinforcements as young as 14. Zizola says one thing has particularly struck him about the conflict: its stupidity. Even without the war, the two countries would be a disaster area. A three-year drought is threatening as many as 8 million of Ethiopia’s 60 million inhabitants–and 1 million of Eritrea’s 4 million people–with famine. But the two sides have seemed too busy fighting to notice.
