Sudan: Tigrayan refugees say they are victims of expropriation by militias
Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province wait outside a health center in Hamdayet, Sudan, November 22, 2020. (Photo illustration) AFP - ASHRAF SHAZLY
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Fleeing the fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray province, thousands of refugees - 38,000 according to UNHCR - continue to flow into Sudan.
In parallel with the offensive led by the troops of the regular army, they say that they were victims of the Amharas, the ethnic group neighboring the Tigrayans.
Militias and armed groups wanted to appropriate their land.
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From our special
correspondent ,
Eliott Brachet
In Hashaba camp, it only takes a glance to see that many of the
refugees
are peasants.
Many tractors are parked next to the makeshift shelters.
“
I fled on my tractor because I saw people in the village being massacred, young people having their
throats cut,
women raped
,” says Mekonen Tigabo, who owned four hectares of sorghum in Mai-Kadra.
The Fannos did that
”.
The Fanno in Ethiopia are historically peasants who take up arms.
Today, “Fanno” also refers to groups of young nationalist Amharas.
For Mekonen, they had become more and more threatening.
“
These Amharas gangs say that all the land that extends to the Tekezé River is theirs
,” he explains.
They have been saying this for a long time.
But this has intensified since Abiy Ahmed was elected.
He pushed them to claim these territories.
There was no conflict between us before
”.
Ethnic cleansing
A little further on, another farmer, Gebregziabher Gebremichael, says he too abandoned his crops.
“
For this season, we had finished harvesting sesame, all that was left was the sorghum
,” he explains.
But we didn't have time, they'll take everything.
The Fannos have declared war on the Tigrayans for the land.
Being a Tigrayan has become a crime in their eyes.
Their goal is to cleanse this region of all Tigrayans
”.
The region bordering the Tekezé River is known for its fertile land.
Today, control of this land has become a bone of contention between Tigrayans and Amharas.
Fighting continues in Ethiopia, in the Tigray region.
Federal troops have launched the siege of the city of Mekele, capital of the province of Tigray and stronghold of the TPLF (Front for the Liberation of the People of Tigray).
Tanks were deployed in anticipation of the bombing of the city, announced the spokesman for the Ethiopian army who issued an ultimatum to civilians asking them to leave Mekele.
For its part, the TPLF assured that its forces were holding on and had started digging trenches.
► Read also: Conflict in Tigray: the fighting continues in the absence of any humanitarian aid
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Ethiopia
Sudan
Refugees
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