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Ethiopia’s army has blocked one of the main roads leading to Sudan, preventing people fleeing the Tigray conflict from crossing the border, according to refugees who arrived in eastern Sudan on Thursday.
More than 40,000 refugees have crossed from Ethiopia into Sudan since conflict broke out on November 4 between federal forces and leaders of the ruling Tigray party.
“The Ethiopian army has cut the road leading to the border with Sudan” in Humera, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border, said Tesfai Burhano, who had just arrived at the Lugdi crossing.
“Those seeking to reach Sudan must avoid the main road and go through fields without being seen by the soldiers,” he told AFP.
On Thursday, the border post was empty without any visible Ethiopian soldiers, an AFP correspondent at the scene reported, adding that around a dozen refugees were seen crossing the border at the time.
The number of Ethiopian refugees arriving in Sudan has dropped dramatically in the past week, according to figures from the UN refugee agency.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, said 718 refugees arrived on Wednesday, compared with 3,813 on Saturday.
A Sudanese security official confirmed the drop in figures, without giving explanations.
UNHCR says 42,651 refugees have arrived in Sudan since the beginning of the Tigray conflict, 70 percent of them in Hamdayit, in the Sudanese province of Kassala, the rest in Gedaref province.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday ordered the Ethiopian army to launch a “final” offensive against Tigray leaders in their regional capital, Mekele.
Abiy, the winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, had given the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) 72 hours to lay down their arms on Sunday, an ultimatum they rejected.
