Tigray: UNHCR boss visits Eritrean refugee camps
Young Ethiopians who fled the Tigray region arrived at the Sudanese border on December 1, 2020. AP - Nariman El-Mofty
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In Ethiopia, for the first time since the start of the conflict in Tigray, the head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi is visiting two Eritrean refugee camps this weekend, out of the four that the province had before. the war.
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The situation of Eritrean refugees has given rise to great concern since November and the start of the conflict in Tigray, especially those in the Hitsas and Shimelba camps, which are still inaccessible and where numerous testimonies report
massacres committed by the Eritrean army
as well as deportations. massifs to Eritrea.
This Saturday, January 30, the head of the UNHCR was in one of the two camps that remained intact, Mai Ayni.
On Sunday, he is expected to visit a second, Adi Harush, escorted by prominent Ethiopian ministers and the director of the Ethiopian Refugee Agency.
Addis Ababa seeks to relieve the pressure, at a time when its denials on the presence of the Eritrean army in Tigray are undermined by numerous testimonies, videos and satellite images.
No humanitarian and no journalist have been able to visit the Shimelba and Hitsats camps, but large-scale crimes seem to have been committed there.
On January 15, Filippo Grandi even spoke of
“
major violations of international law
”
after seeing satellite images showing “
fires and destruction
”.
The head of UNHCR will not be going there.
But on Friday, for the first time, an Ethiopian minister spoke about Shimelba and Hitsats in a private meeting with members of Congress and the US administration.
According to Demeke Mekonnen, Minister of Foreign Affairs, these two camps would have been evacuated because they were "
inhospitable
" and "
not up to standards
".
In addition, he said, “
the Eritrean opposition
” would have received “
military training from the junta
”, ie from public enemy number one, the TPLF.
For now, Filippo Grandi has not made any statement at the end of his first day of visit.
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Ethiopia
Refugees