Ethiopia: thousands of refugees flock to Sudan to flee fighting in Tigray

Thousands of Ethiopian refugees have arrived in recent days to settle in makeshift camps on Hamdayet hill.

RFI / Eliott Brachet

Text by: Eliott Brachet

4 min

According to the UNHCR, more than 28,000 Ethiopians found refuge in Sudan in just over a week.

At the border, refugees still continue to flow. 

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With our special envoy to the Sudanese border,

This Monday, November 16, in one day, more than 3,200 people crossed the Tégézé river which marks the border between Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea, taking the name of Setit on Sudanese soil.

The refugees crowd into motor boats that go back and forth from one bank to another.

Some swim across.

Then they cross the border post of Hamdayet with the few provisions that they were able to hastily take away.

We see a lot of children, that's half of the refugees, says the UN.

In the distance we could see, 5 km, the antennas of the Ethiopian city of Humera which was bombed last week.

Many refugees in the camp say the bombs targeted the heart of the city, killing civilians in the streets.

Many here accuse Eritrea of ​​lending a hand to the Ethiopian federal forces.

Comments corroborated by Sudanese military intelligence officers interviewed on condition of anonymity. 

Shooting from the Eritrean borders

Nagasi arrived in the camp two days ago.

An official in Humera, he claims to have seen heavy weapon fire with his own eyes coming from the northern border with Eritrea.

“ 

 , ”he says. 

At nightfall, the wind sweeps the hill of Hamdayet where the makeshift camps are located.

There are few shelters and the night is very cold.

After a little over a week, humanitarian aid slowly begins to arrive, special food for the children, sorghum, some medicine.

Makeshift tents and shelters have been deployed, latrines set up as well as water tanks.

This morning at dawn, a crowd thronged in front of about fifteen trucks chartered by the UN.

1,300 refugees were on the road to Oum Rakuba camp, which is supposed to accommodate up to 26,000 people.

This camp had already received thousands of Ethiopians fleeing famine in the 1980s.

Today it is a huge wasteland where shade is scarce.

Humanitarian aid is starting to arrive.

Refugees line up for a food distribution.

RFI / Eliott Brachet

Towards an unprecedented humanitarian crisis

As the final assault prepares, the UN is raising a cry of alarm.

In the absence of direct links with Tigray, at least the daily UN briefings provide some information on the situation.

Thus on Tuesday, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees "warned that a large-scale humanitarian crisis is unfolding as thousands of refugees flee every day the ongoing fighting [...] for seek safety

An unprecedented influx over the past two decades in this part of the country.

"

Nearly 4,000 people have crossed the border every day since November 10, according to the UNHCR, which adds that this " 

 ".

Monday, it was Ocha who called on the belligerents to “ 

”.

"

 " is underway, but without further details.

The two agencies repeated their demands to the Ethiopian government: access to the cut-off province, the supply of essential goods to the populations and the restoration of telecommunications.

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• Ethiopia

• Sudan

• Eritrea

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