Guns and Gold, Part I: How gold riches are reshaping Tigray’s power dynamics, fueling corruption, and laying the groundwork for new crises as communities remain caught between guns and gold-driven exploitation. In the aftermath of the Tigray War that ended in a November 2022 cease-fire, former soldiers were given the right to mine small plots for gold. But the largest areas and those richest in gold reserves have been taken over by rebel generals protected by cadres of ex-combatants, who are smuggling billions of dollars of gold out to foreign markets and who pocket the revenues. As military rule consolidates, foreign companies and local power brokers jostle for control of the booming gold industry, leaving ordinary Ethiopians struggling for survival.