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By staff reporter
April 17, 2020 (Ezega.com) – The Agency for Refugee and Returned Affairs (ARRA) announced the decision to close the Hintsats refugee camp in the regional state of Tigray in northern Ethiopia, and relocate the most of 18,000 Eritrean refugees to other places.
ARRA public relations chief Yassin Ali said the decision was made to help refugees get better services and access to live in their favorite cities in Ethiopia.
Although the Ethiopian government did not disclose the real reason, many observers believe that this is being done to meet the demands of the Eritrean government, which sees these fields as cultivation fields for the opposition against its government. The fact that the camps are so close to their border and in the state of Tigray, a region that is currently not on good terms with Eritrea, adds weight to that argument.
There is growing concern in Ethiopia about the exact nature of the relationship between the Abiy Ahmed government in Ethiopia and the Eritrea regime. Some fear that Ethiopia’s internal politics may be involved here. If true, that would constitute a serious violation of the Ethiopian constitution and its sovereignty.
Some of the refugees DW Amharic spoke to described the agency’s decision as “politically motivated” as it was conspired by the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments.
“Based on the recently introduced proclamation, refugees can leave the camps and reside anywhere in the country and as a result several migrants are leaving the camps,” he said.
Hitsats Camp is one of four refugee camps in the Tigray region that together house almost 100,000 people from Eritrea, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, there are more than 170,000 Eritrean refugees across the country.
Ethiopian officials informed UNHCR in early March of their intention to close Hitsats as part of a consolidation scheme, but it was delayed after Ethiopia confirmed its first COVID-19 cases in mid-March.
Authorities in the regional state of Tigray had no comment, but warned last month that refugees will face punishment if they are forced to return to their home country.
“The climatic condition in the Hitsats refugee camp is very difficult for the refugees themselves and if they are relocated to other camps where there are sufficient spaces, including Shemlba and Adahashi, ARRA is relieved to be serving in a fragmented manner,” said Yassin. . .
Despite ARRA’s move to shut down the amplifier, refugees in Hitsats resist relocation and await responses to their requests to the Ethiopian government and to international organizations working on migration.
“We don’t want to move to other camps. We are living here in peace. We never complained or hit the strike and we don’t understand why the government wanted to move us, the refugees said.
A committee set up to avoid closing the refugee camp said the move to close the refugee camp has created insecurity among refugees. Eritrean refugees are believed to be political and economic migrants.
The committee called on the international community to stop the closure of the refugee camp. They believed that the Eritrea regime was conspiring behind the closure of the seven-year refugee camp.
The refugee camp is one of five refugee camps for Eritrean migrants, four of which are in the Tigray region and one in the Afar regional state.
The authorities of the regional state of Tigray accused Addis Ababa and Asmara of conspiring to close the Hintsats refugee camp.
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