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Ethiopian authorities must allow unrestricted international humanitarian aid to reach refugee camps in Tigray state, Amnesty International said today, amid warnings from the United Nations about a possible food shortage in the region.
Since the conflict began in northern Ethiopia on November 4, access to Tigray has been severely restricted due to ongoing military action, a communications cut and the suspension of civil flights to the region’s airports.
Amnesty International is also calling for the protection of tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees in various camps in Tigray, as well as unrestricted access for human rights monitors as the security situation continues to deteriorate.
“We are on the brink of a humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia, and the federal authorities are making the situation worse,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
“Human rights monitors, including refugee camps, must be allowed access and international humanitarian aid to avoid further deaths and misery. The Ethiopian government must also reestablish telephone and Internet communications throughout the region, to allow for the coordination of aid to help people in desperate need. “
There are an estimated 96,000 Eritrean refugees housed in the Tigray region. Amnesty International has confirmed that thousands of Eritrean refugees have fled these camps and reached the city of Gondar in the Amhara region, as well as the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
According to the UN, there are also an estimated 100,000 internally displaced persons in the region since the conflict began, as well as 850,000 people who already needed humanitarian assistance before the conflict began. In recent weeks, more than 50,000 people have fled Tigray to neighboring Sudan, and many have told the media horrible stories of violence.
In recent weeks, the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that medical supplies are running low in hospitals in the region, and the UN Commissioner for Human Rights has described a “highly worrying and volatile situation” that is in danger. to intensify.
Risks to humanitarian workers
Amnesty International is also concerned that the lives of humanitarian workers are at risk in the region, following confirmation that four aid workers have died since the conflict began. Last month, three security guards from the Danish Refugee Council were killed and a staff member from the International Rescue Committee also died in the Hitsats refugee camp. The circumstances of his death and who was responsible are unknown.
On 7 December, members of the Ethiopian security forces fired at a vehicle carrying UN security personnel near the Shimelba refugee camp in Tigray. On December 9, a government spokesman said the vehicle was shot as it was heading into the area without proper authorization from the Ethiopian government, and also claimed that the vehicle had not stopped at two security checkpoints.
“These attacks are abhorrent. Humanitarian workers must be respected and protected by all parties to the conflict, as required by international humanitarian law. Deliberately targeting those providing humanitarian assistance can constitute a war crime. The Ethiopian authorities must order their forces to stop attacking humanitarian workers – and the facilities where they work – while carrying out military action in the region, ”said Deprose Muchena.
Background
On November 4, 2020, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), backed by special forces and militias, to engage militarily with the Tigray Regional Paramilitary Police and militias loyal to the Front of Tigray People’s Liberation (TPLF), in what it said was a response to multiple attacks by Tigray security forces on the ENDF Northern Command base in Mekelle and other military camps in the Tigray region.
Last month, Amnesty International called for the protection of civilians during the Mekelle offensive, after documenting the massacre that left hundreds of civilians dead in Mai-Kadra, western Tigray.
