Hamdait -

After a 9-hour march from Ethiopia's Adbay to the western bank of the Setit River opposite Hamdait, the Sudanese army, an Ethiopian army patrol stopped about 30 young men who were intending to cross the border to Sudan and immediately shot 3 of them and threw them into the river, according to two refugees who spoke to Al Jazeera Net.

Moz Tulumriam, 26, says that he and his companions witnessed this scene, and they were afraid of all the options available at the time. Returning to Tigray region means returning to hell and crossing the river, an adventure fraught with death, either by sniper fire or drowning.

Moz tells the story of his escape to Al Jazeera Net after his town, "Adbay", witnessed violent battles between the Tigray forces and the Ethiopian army and its allies from the Amhara militias, "Al Fano" and the Walgait.

He adds that the officers of the federal army and allied militias locate the homes of the rich by day and break into them at night to loot money and gold jewelry at gunpoint.

Al Jazeera Net was unable to obtain a response from Ethiopian officials in the region.

And a Twitter account run by the Ethiopian government said that "the accounts circulating about the bodies on social media were due to a false propaganda campaign in Tigray."

Yaqoub Muhammad Yaqoub, director of the Hamdait Reception Center: We receive large numbers of refugees despite the town's weak capabilities (Al Jazeera Net)

crossing adventure

According to the director of the reception center for Ethiopian refugees in Hamdait Yaqoub Muhammad Yaqoub, a new wave of asylum has been affecting the center and the town with weak potentials since last July 25.

Within 10 days, the reception center in the Sudanese state of Kassala arrived more than 230 refugees from Tigray after they crossed the river, despite the deployment of Ethiopian army patrols aimed at eliminating anyone who wants to cross by snipers in the trees, according to eyewitnesses.

In addition to these survivors of the Setit waves and sniper bullets, thousands of Ethiopian refugees of the Komnt ethnicity in the Amhara region arrived in the town of Tayeh in Gedaref State in Sudan.

Yaqoub told Al Jazeera Net that fugitives informed them that the areas of Adbay and Hamra were bombed by the Amhara and the Ethiopian army, which led to the escape of the Tigrayans to Sudan through Hamdait and Al-Ruyan.

The Setit River separating the Tigray region and Sudan is witnessing an increasing crossing of Ethiopian refugees towards Sudanese lands (Al Jazeera Net)

Painful stories

The director of the Hamdait Refugee Reception Center expresses his astonishment at the continued transit of Tigray refugees from the Ethiopian Hamra region after the heavy bombardment they were subjected to at the beginning of the war in November 2020.

He adds that last July 25 was a violent day - according to the accounts of the fleeing refugees - the Ethiopian army and its militia allies launched a house-to-house search campaign in Hamra and Adbay, while its forces monitored the fugitives towards Sudan on the western bank of the Setit River.

He continues, "They arrested the men, tied their hands and feet, and threw them into the river. There are accounts of the execution of 55 people, some of whom had bullet marks after they were recovered."

He says that on that day, about 150 Tigrayans tried to cross into Sudan, but the shooting dispersed them, killing about 10 people on the spot, while 35 people managed to cross the river to Hamdait.

Sudanese villagers in the villages of Abu Koto and Al-Jira, southwest of Hamdait, retrieved the bodies of tied and shot Ethiopians who were buried after informing the army and police.

He asserts that, according to the accounts, those who were arrested by the Al-Fano and the Walgate militias did not have a good fate either, as they imprisoned them in the corn stores until death.

The refugee center in Hamdait received dozens of refugees fleeing the battles in Tigray (Al Jazeera Net)

Identity killing

After the Tigrayan fighters organized their ranks and recaptured the regional capital, Mekele, the Ethiopian army’s actions intensified off Hamdait, fearing the refugees would return to the Tigray region and join the Tigray Liberation Front.

This is confirmed by the refugee Moz Tulumriam, who crossed the river to Sudan recently, by saying that the Ethiopian army is targeting Tigrayan youth for fear of their joining the battle front.

He added, "They don't want us to go home. My mother and father in Adebay asked me to flee to Sudan for fear of being arrested by Al-Fano and the Walgait, in order to ask my family for a ransom for my release."

As for the young man, "Emmanuel", who crossed the Setit River to Hamdait last Monday, he tells Al Jazeera Net that there is a noticeable targeting of young people and an increase in rape cases of girls in the eastern regions of Tigray after the Tigrayans regained their capital, Mekele.

He notes that he fled from Hamra because the Amhara and the Ulgaits, who believe that the Hamra belong to them, kill any young man who speaks the Tigray language.

Emmanuel, who used to work for a telecommunications company, says the militias specifically target government employees.

In a remarkable development, the director of the Hamdait Refugee Reception Center says that the Eritrean army has provided protection for Tigris who were forced to flee to the town of Sheri, near the Eritrean border, after accusing the Eritrean army of participating in the war and committing violations.

Refugees told painful stories about their journey from Tigray to Sudanese lands (Al Jazeera Net)

horror triangle

Sudanese residents of Hamdait are apprehensive after their small town has become overcrowded with Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees alike, making it a hotbed for a multinational intelligence war.

Hamdait represents a triangle where the Ethiopian and Eritrean borders meet with Sudan, and the Sudanese army was forced to reinforce its forces in the region after a state of alert imposed by the Ethiopian army west of the Setit River and the Eritrean army mobilizing its forces in Umm Hajar, also west of the river.

After a man in his sixties was killed while working in pottery on the bank of the Setit River by Ethiopian snipers, the Sudanese army imposed measures to prevent refugees from being stationed on the river bank.

According to the director of the Hamdait Center, the Ethiopian forces are nervous about refugees trying to help their relatives cross the runaway Setit River these days.

According to military information, 6 Ethiopian tanks were detected on the western bank of the river and heavy weapons directed towards the borders of Sudan, on alert.

Citizens' complaints

The residents of Hamdayat, who number about 6,000, complain about the practices of the refugees, who are now outnumbering them. Al Jazeera Net reviewed complaints from the residents that criticized the spread of prostitution, the smuggling of alcohol and drugs, and the refugees' participation in the trade, and the memorandum requested that the refugees be deported to permanent camps.

The director of the refugee reception center says that they informed the security committee in Wad Al-Helio locality of Kassala state of the danger of the presence of unregistered refugees in Hamdait.

He explains that the number of refugees in Hamdaït is about 14,000, but the number of registered refugees does not exceed 7,000, explaining that the center has approved fingerprint registration since last April and until now 5900 refugees have been registered.

He adds that there are difficulties hindering registration, including marriages of Sudanese of Ethiopian women, as well as wealthy refugees who refuse to register and are waiting for the war to stop to return to their homes in Tigray region.

The center's management faces another challenge, which is the influx of Eritrean refugees. Last Wednesday saw the arrival of 29 Eritreans, including 10 young girls, and the center's management is forced to separate them away from Tigray for fear of reprisals.

A number of Ethiopian refugees prefer to stay in Hamdait to be close to the areas from which they were displaced (Al Jazeera Net)

close to home

Ethiopian refugees prefer to stay in Hamdait to be close to their villages and towns from which they were displaced. It is enough for them to stand on the rugged bank of the Setit River and peek into their childhood days.

Refugee Taher Adam refuses to be deported to Um Rakouba camp, among 4,000 refugees that the authorities plan to transfer to permanent camps.

He tells Al Jazeera Net that he lost his son drowning in the river and has a wife and daughter who suffer from psychological disorders as a result of the war, but he hopes to defeat the Ethiopian army and return to his hometown of Hamra.

As for the 23-year-old refugee, Salam, who arrived in Hamdait last Wednesday, she appears to have gone back to her roots. She left Sudan, returning to Ethiopia, on the back of her mother, when she was one year old.

Salam was afraid of photography, like the rest of the new refugees, for fear that the Ethiopian army would target her relatives on the other side of the river.