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In an event that the United Nations called “disturbing”, Ethiopia said on Friday that it is returning thousands of refugees who fled the camps in its Tigray region as the war progressed, placing them on buses back to the border area with Eritrea, the country of refugees. originally fled.
The news came when the United States said it believes Eritrean troops are active in Ethiopia, a “serious development”. A State Department spokesman in an email cited credible reports and said “we urge that these troops immediately withdraw.”
UN Refugee Chief Filippo Grandi said that “over the past month we have received an overwhelming number of disturbing reports of Eritrean refugees in Tigray killed, kidnapped and forcibly returned to Eritrea. If confirmed, these actions would constitute a major violation of international law. ”He said his agency has met with some refugees in the capital, Addis Ababa, and again urged that humanitarian access to Tigray be unhindered.
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Ethiopia said its recently completed military offensive against the now fugitive Tigray regional government “was not a direct threat” to the 96,000 “misinformed” Eritrean refugees, even as aid groups said four staff members had been killed in the fighting. , at least one in a refugee camp.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this week that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize last year, “assured me that (Eritrean forces) have not entered Tigray territory.” But Tigray residents have claimed that the shots came from the Eritrean direction. when the conflict started.
Eritrea, described by human rights groups as one of the most repressive countries in the world, is a staunch enemy of the fugitive Tigray government.
The UN refugee agency said it had not been informed prior to the return of the Eritrean refugees. “We received alarming messages from Eritreans living abroad and when we examined them, we found that several hundred refugees had been put on buses this morning to be returned to the Tigray region,” he said.
Any forced return, he said, “would be absolutely unacceptable.”
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Given the trauma refugees say they witnessed in Tigray, they should be protected elsewhere, the agency said. He said the refugee camps have not had access to food or other supplies for over a month.
The International Organization for Migration said it was “extremely concerned” about the “forced” return of the refugees and denied it was involved, saying Ethiopia seized one of its transit centers in the capital Addis Ababa on 3 December.
Aid groups say thousands of Eritrean refugees had fled to Addis Ababa and Tigray’s capital Mekele. Ethiopia said its “unregulated movement” makes it difficult to guarantee its safety.
Their camps are now stable and under “total control,” Ethiopia said, adding that food delivery there “is underway.”
But communication and transportation links to Tigray remain so challenging that the International Rescue Committee said it was still trying to confirm details about the murder of a colleague at the Hitsats refugee camp in the city of Shire, the base of relief operations.
Separately, the Danish Refugee Council said that three staff members working as guards at a project site died last month. It was not clear where, but the group also supports Eritrean refugees.
“Unfortunately, due to the lack of communications and the constant insecurity in the region, it has not yet been possible to reach their families,” the group said.
“Now, more than ever, the cessation of all hostilities is a matter of urgency,” said European Union Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic while condemning the killings.
Tigray remains largely isolated from the world five weeks after clashes broke out between the Ethiopian government and Tigray’s after a months-long struggle for power. The governments are seen as illegitimate, the result of months of friction since Abiy took office in 2018 and sidelined the once dominant Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the clashes that began on November 4 and have threatened to destabilize the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia rejects “interference” as fighting is reportedly continuing, while the UN has called for unrestricted and neutral access. “Food rations for displaced people in Tigray have been exhausted,” tweeted the UN humanitarian office.
Ethiopia says it is responsible for ensuring the safety of relief efforts, although the conflict and related ethnic tensions have left many Tigrayans suspicious of government forces.
On Friday, Ethiopia said it had started delivering aid to areas of Tigray under its control, including Shire and Mekele, a city of half a million people.
“Suggestions that humanitarian assistance is hampered due to active military combat in various cities and surrounding areas within the Tigray region are false and undermine the critical work done by the National Defense Forces to stabilize the region,” said the prime minister’s office, noting only “sporadic shooting.”
About 6 million people live in Tigray. About 1 million are believed to be displaced. The impact on the civilian population has been “appalling,” the UN human rights chief said this week.
This week, Ethiopia said its forces shot and briefly detained members of UN staff conducting their first security assessment in Tigray, a crucial step in delivering aid. Ethiopia said they were trying to go where they were not allowed.
Meanwhile, nearly 50,000 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan and more continue to arrive.
“Recent groups coming from deeper areas within Tigray are arriving weak and exhausted, some reporting they spent two weeks fleeing into Ethiopia while heading to the border,” the UN refugee spokesperson told reporters, Babar Baloch. “We have been told heartbreaking stories that armed groups detained them and stole their possessions.”
Without access in Ethiopia, he said, “we cannot verify these disturbing reports.”
(AP)
