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ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, expressed concern on Friday about the humanitarian situation in the Ethiopian region of Tigray and the refugees there.
“I remain extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and its impact on the civilian population, in particular the Eritrean refugees housed in the region,” Grandi said in a statement.
Grandi also noted “some positive developments” recently in accessing and assisting vulnerable populations, including transporting and distributing food to some 25,000 Eritrean refugees in the Mai-Aini and Adi Harush camps in Tigray.
He said UNHCR and its partners carried out a rapid assessment mission last week to the two camps with the Ethiopian Agency for Refugee and Returned Affairs and were able to begin restoring limited water supplies and health services.
UNHCR and its partners “have not yet had access to the Shimelba and Hitsats refugee camps since the start of the law enforcement operation two months ago.”
“I am very concerned for the safety and well-being of the Eritrean refugees in those camps. They have been without help for many weeks,” Grandi said.
Reports of additional military incursions in the past 10 days are consistent with open source satellite imagery showing new fires and other new signs of destruction in the two camps, the UNHCR chief said.
Last month, the Ethiopian government claimed that the recently concluded military operation in the conflict-affected regional state of Tigray in Ethiopia “was not a direct threat to Eritrean refugees” residing inside and outside the refugee camps of the region.
Noting that the East African country has “a very long and cherished history of hospitality and generosity” towards people who are forced to displace due to natural and man-made calamities, the working group on the state of emergency emphasized that the Ethiopian government currently provides protection to almost 1 million refugees, mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, who are housed in 26 camps and locations outside the camps.
The Ethiopian refugee operation is now home to nearly 200,000 Eritrean refugees across the country, most of whom are primarily protected in the regional states of Tigray and Afar, as well as in the capital Addis Ababa, according to Ethiopian government figures. . Final product
