UN CONCERNED OVER REPORTS OF KILLINGS, ABDUCTIONS OF ERITREAN REFUGEES

Sat 12 December 2020:

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said it has received an “overwhelming” number of reports about Eritrean refugees in Tigray being killed, abducted or forcibly returned to Eritrea since fighting in Ethiopia’s northernmost region began more than a month ago.

“If confirmed, these actions would constitute a major violation of international law,” UNHCR head Filippo Grandi said in a statement on Friday, adding his agency has met some refugees in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

“It is vital that Eritrean refugees be able to move to safe locations, and receive protection and assistance wherever possible, including outside of Tigray, given the traumatic events they report to have witnessed or survived,” he added.

UNHCR and other aid agencies have not had access to the four main camps hosting for Eritrean refugees – Shimelba, Hitsats, Mai-Ayni and Adi Harush – inside Tigray, since fighting erupted in early November between the government and the region’s former ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

In his statement on Friday, Grandi called on the Ethiopian government to implement steps to ensure safe access for humanitarian workers in Tigray.

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

Grandi’s statement came hours after Ethiopia’s government said it was returning Eritrean refugees to the Tigray camps, asserting that its recently completed military offensive against the forces loyal to TPLF “was not a direct threat” to the 96,000 Eritrean refugees registered in Ethiopia – even as aid groups said four staffers had been killed in the fighting, at least one in a refugee camp.

“A large number of misinformed refugees are moving out in an irregular manner,” the government said in a statement.

“The government is safely returning those refugees to their respective camps,” the statement said, adding that food was being transported to the camps.

The UNHCR was not informed of any planned relocation of refugees in Ethiopia, Babar Baloch, a UNHCR spokesman, told reporters in Geneva. He called the reports “alarming”.

He added, “While we cannot speculate at this time, any refoulement would be absolutely unacceptable.” Refoulement means forcing refugees to return to the country they fled from.

Ato Addisu, deputy head of Ethiopia’s state-run Agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs, said, “A return to Eritrea would never happen unless they request by themselves – this is against international law”.

Eritrea has long faced accusations of large-scale rights abuses. It has accused Western powers of smear campaigns and luring Eritreans abroad, which they have denied.

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