Nearly 100,000 refugees from Eritrea, an oppressive, authoritarian nation bordering Ethiopia to the north, were registered in four camps in Tigray when fighting erupted in November between Abiy’s government and the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). (Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP) (Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images)
“Refugees International is deeply concerned about media reports that the Ethiopian government has rounded up more than 100 Eritrean refugees in and around Addis Ababa and forcibly moved them to the refugee camps near the unstable Amhara-Tigray border.
The area is particularly dangerous for Eritrean refugees who have been displaced multiple times and have faced attacks, kidnapping, discrimination, and other rights violations since Ethiopia’s civil war in November 2020. As the conflict continues throughout the region, Eritreans have been targeted by aggressors on all sides, including Eritrean troops active inside Ethiopia, and occasionally combatants from the Tigray Defense Forces, Amharan militia, and others. Additionally, the UN Refugee Agency and other aid groups have regularly been denied access to these refugee-hosting areas. The move violates Ethiopia’s domestic and international obligations to protect refugees.
This is not the first time the Ethiopian authorities have targeted the Eritrean refugees for forced return. In December 2020, the government forced Eritrean refugees in Addis Ababa onto buses and drove them to the Tigray region’s Adi Harush and Mai Ani refugee camps. This abuse must end.
Refugees International calls on all actors to respect domestic and international law by not forcing refugees back to places where they might be in danger. Refugees should have access to their rights, including freedom of movement, and should be offered protection and assistance by the government of Ethiopia and the humanitarian community. Parties to the conflict should work toward peace and never target refugees and other civilians.”
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Refugees International’s VP for Strategic Outreach, Sarah Sheffer, at ssheffer@refugeesinternational.org.
PHOTO: An Eritrean refugee woman sits with a child at Mai Aini Refugee camp in Ethiopia on January 30, 2021. (Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Eritreans have helped Ethiopia in its darkest time when TPLF and Sudan tried to destroy the Ethiopian state after all longtime partners of Ethiopia like Djibouti Kenya Rwanda and USA betrayed Ethiopia and this what Eritreans get for it:
The question should be why are they refugees in their own country? This is the outcome of ethnic and language based divisive politics. Recently I was discussing East African politics with a Sudanese politician. After some heated exchanges regarding TPLF and its atrocities, I asked him, do you know how many ethnic groups are living in your own country and how many languages are spoken? He simply have no clue. I told him in the Sudan there are about 500 ethnic groups speaking about 400 different languages. He was flabbergasted. You and your governments` advocation of pressuring Ethiopia to be dismantled will have the same effect on your own country. Think about it, I said. He said, I take back my earlier points, I clearly see what you are trying to say.
Going back to the Eritrean being mistreated in Ethiopia, that should not happen at all. It is my argument they should not be even held in these so called refugee camps. They should be allowed to intermingle with the rest of the population. That is the answer. In the first place these refugees are running away from a tyrant and seeking to go elsewhere where life will be much better than living in Eritrea or Ethiopia. Therefore, their stay in Ethiopia is transitory. No Eritrean running for their life from the Eritrea should be at a refugee camp. I know there are complications but the government of Ethiopia should take a calculated risk and let them loose. That is the remedy for the mayhem! You can wave which ever flag you want, you can speak your choice of language and practice your type of religion, after all we are one people. We all are blacks. That is how the White world will see you. The rest of the prefix and suffix they and we use to identify ourselves are tools for whites to manipulate us.