U.N receives reports of Eritrean refugees being killed

The U.N's refugee agency, UNHCR, said a large number of Eritrean refugees in Tigray have been killed, abducted, or forcibly returned home, according to reports it's received from people on the ground.

UNHCR and other aid agencies have not had access to the four main camps hosting for Eritrean refugees [File: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters]

The information has not been verified by the U.N because the four main camps--Shimelba, Hitsats, Mai-Ayni, and Adi Harush-- housing Eritrean migrants fleeing Ethiopia's month-long battle with the Tigray People's Liberation Front ( TPLF), is off-limits to everyone except Ethiopian officials.

“If confirmed, these actions would constitute a major violation of international law,” UNHCR head Filippo Grandi said in a statement on Friday.

Fighting between Ethiopia and the ethnic minority group in Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia, began on Nov.4 after Tigray's leaders, who prior to the conflict were given unique privileges to be a semi-autonomous region, provoked Ethiopia's army by attacking its troops stationed at an airport in the north.

Since the month-long war began, more than 600,000 thousand Ethiopian's living in the conflict zone fled to neighbouring Sudan seeking refugee.

Fighting between both sides even spilled over to neighboring Eritrea and brought about allegations that Eritrean forces were aiding the Ethiopian army-- a recent ally since both nations agreed on a peace deal in 2018 that ended years of war-- in the regional conflict.

Approximately 96,000 Eritretrians along the Ethiopian border fled their homes to make-shift refugee camps Ethiopia set up in the now federally controlled region of Tigray.

Ethiopia's government recently announced that it will begin moving Eritrean refugees to better equipt camps in the heart of Tigray, declaring the area safe as a result of the military's successful offensive in driving out TPLF fighters in the Tigray capital, Mekelle.

According to a comment an Ethiopian official, in charge of the government's refugee agency, told Reuters, 580 Eritrean refugees were put on buses destined for Tigray.

The U.N in the meantime continues to call on Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, to grant humanitarian workers access to Tigray.

“Such access is urgently needed so we can provide desperately needed assistance to refugees and other vulnerable populations,” Grandi said.

Fighting between TPLF fighters and government forces continues to rage even after Ethiopia's army declared victory several weeks ago. The only difference now is that the battlefield has moved around the highlands of Mekelle, according to a text message TPLF leader Debretsion Gremichael sent Reuters News Agency, adding that his forces were determined in recapturing the city.

By: Niza Nondo