“I lost a leg on the way home from school”

WARNING: This story contains detailed descriptions of injuries

Earlier this year, Berhane Haile was walking home from school in the mountainous countryside of northern Ethiopia when a massive explosion changed his life forever.

The 16-year-old had just stepped on a piece of ordnance, causing his left leg to shatter and bleed. He was in great pain.

“The explosion threw me backwards. There was blood everywhere. People heard the noise and rushed over,” he told BBC World Service.

The teenager then had to endure a two-hour walk with his distraught father and other villagers through hilly terrain to Adwa, the region’s main town about 162 kilometers north of Tigray’s capital Mekele. (100 miles) of road – not far from the Eritrean border.

This is where the nearest hospital was – medical staff there managed to save his life, but his remaining leg had to be amputated. Parts of his hands were also blown off.

His Seyabo farmstead, deep in the Tigray mountains, is littered with unexploded ordnance in the aftermath of the civil war that ended in November 2022.

These are mainly grenades, shells and other weapons left behind by fleeing combatants from both sides – no mines are believed to be planted in the area.

The two-year conflict, which has caused millions to flee their homes and become dependent on aid, has been called one of Africa’s deadliest conflicts in recent decades.

The war broke out at the end of 2020, with Ethiopian and Eritrean coalition forces on one side and local Tigray militants on the other, both vying for control of the region.

The African Union estimates that as many as 500,000 people have been killed in the conflict and the humanitarian crises it has triggered.

However, two years after the peace agreement that ended the war, people are still being killed and injured because of the legacy of the war.

Burhane strayed off the usual mountain trail because he spotted his family’s sheep and goats grazing and walked over to prevent them from entering someone else’s land. This is when he stands on dynamite.

The Red Cross said it has helped nearly 400 victims of accidental explosions since 2023, 80% of whom were children.

But the charity believes this figure is just the “tip of the iceberg”.

Nigsti Gidey was five months pregnant when her husband was killed in an explosion in the Newi district near Adwa earlier this year.

He was out helping with construction projects in the village and stepped on some abandoned ordnance. He was taken to hospital but did not survive.

“Arms are everywhere,” his widow told the BBC.

“Officers told us not to come into contact with anything metallic on the road.”

Efforts are underway to seize unexploded weapons – such as in Gorero, a small village off the main road to Adwa, where officials have searched farms and fields.

But conducting an extensive search is difficult, and local police chief Hadush Gebremedhin said he had asked his superiors for more support to conduct a larger search.

He didn’t hear back, which means resources are likely limited and bomb disposal experts are in short supply.

Haddouche officials have defused some of the weapons they found, but even so, he said extreme heat or accidental fires could detonate them.

Weapons clearance charities with experience dealing with the aftermath of other African conflicts may eventually step in, but this is an issue that will require large-scale coordination.

In Adwa, officials lacked options for safely disposing of explosives and carried them back to the town’s Peace and Security Office compound at great personal risk.

But the suffocating fear that gripped the village of Belharn, and the fierce gunfire that once echoed through the mountains, has disappeared.

Basic services such as electricity and internet that were disrupted during the war have been restored, allowing Seab and other villages, towns and cities to return to life.

Months after the conflict ended, Burhane returned to school for the first time in years, but even before the accident last February, life for his family was far from normal.

He lost his eldest brother, a fighter on Tigrayan’s side, during the war.

One of his sisters, also a fighter, suffered permanent injuries and is still receiving medical support in Mekele.

Another sister who lives in a different part of Tigray was forced to leave her home and cannot return because her town is in a disputed area claimed by both Tigray and the neighboring Amhara region.

She had been living in a displacement camp in the town of Adwa until recently, when she moved to help Belharn.

As for Berhane, humanitarian organizations provided him with prosthetics and crutches to help him walk again.

He was unable to move back to Seab, where life often required an arduous trek over mountains.

The usually 20-minute walk to the village school now takes about an hour – so he moved to Adwa, where he rented a house with his sister.

Since his sister still relies on aid, they’re not sure how they’re going to pay for it all, but Berhaan said it’s the best way for him to stay in school.

His new classmates helped him write notes in class because the explosion also damaged his fingers and thumb.

“I have mixed feelings,” he told the BBC of his situation.

“Sometimes I get angry, but sometimes I realize I’m alive and feel grateful.”

His dream of one day becoming a farmer was shattered. Before the accident, he often helped his father grow corn, sorghum and other grains on the family farm.

His move to the small town upset his parents, who had already suffered the effects of the war.

But Burhane, now 17, said he is determined to persevere so he can one day help them.

He wants to further his education and aspires to become a civil servant.