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Simon Fikadu woke up before dawn to join the convoy leaving Mai Aini camp for Eritrean refugees in the war-affected Tigray region of Ethiopia, where he and his family have lived for seven years.
It was a Tuesday morning in mid-July, and authorities had arranged to drive Simon and 19 other refugees more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) south to visit the proposed site for a new camp – which they hoped to be safe from persistent, unpredictable fights.
The cars pulled away just as Simon heard the first bursts of gunfire that would soon surround Mai Aini, including the mud-brick house where his wife and three children were still sleeping.
Over the next few hours, he received dozens of frantic calls from his wife and other relatives who screamed in horror as bullets and artillery fire rained down around them.
The July 13 clashes in Mai Aini were just the latest example of how the Tigray War turned the lives of thousands of Eritrean refugees, who for more than two decades have come to regard the region as a sanctuary of their oppressive homeland.
The conflict pits rebels aligned with the region’s former ruling party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), against forces supporting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, including Eritrean soldiers.
From the start, the Eritrean refugees were caught in the crossfire: two camps in northern Tigray, Hitsats and Shimelba, were looted and then completely destroyed in what an aid group called “rampage”.
Thousands of their inhabitants are still missing.
A camp for internally displaced people in Azezo, Ethiopia, hosts Ethiopians as well as Eritrean refugees uprooted by the ongoing war in Tigray. By EDUARDO SOTERAS (AFP) Today, Eritrean refugees fear further attacks from resurgent rebels, and they are desperate to leave Tigray once and for all.
“I’m in shock. Try to understand my emotion,” Simon said, his phone still buzzing with Mai Aini’s calls, to UN officials as he visited the new campsite in Dabat in the region. Amhara region neighboring Tigray.
Speaking in broken English, he called for a mass evacuation of the two remaining camps in Tigray, adding: “Please try not to be just a staff member. ‘be a human. “
A haven becomes hostile
Eritrean refugees began arriving in Tigray in 2000, towards the end of a ruinous two-year border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia that left tens of thousands of people dead.
Eritrean refugee Seble Melkamu (left) hugs her son as she talks with other refugees at her shelter in a camp in Azezo town. By EDUARDO SOTERAS (AFP) They were fleeing the authoritarian regime of President Isaias Afwerki, whose appalling rights record and system of forced military service have led some to dub Eritrea “the North Korea of Africa”.
Abiy won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize in large part for initiating a surprise rapprochement with Isaias after a standoff of nearly two decades.
Yet Isaias and the TPLF remained bitter enemies, so Eritrean refugees continued to feel at home in Tigray.
The area “was good for all of us,” said Abdela Ibrahim, a former resident of Shimelba camp who now lives in a camp for internally displaced people on the outskirts of Gondar, south of Tigray in the Amhara region.
But that changed when Abiy sent troops to Tigray last November to overthrow the TPLF, a move he said came in response to TPLF attacks on Federal Army camps.
“When the war broke out, the people (Tigrayans) became divided,” Abdela said.
“The adults would give you water to drink, while the young, abandoning their previous position, would quarrel with you, harm you, kill you with whatever object they possessed.”
Internally displaced people stand at the entrance to a shelter in Azezo camp. By EDUARDO SOTERAS (AFP) Once the fighting reached Hitsats in late November, pro-TPLF militiamen targeted refugees in retaliation after suffering battlefield setbacks against Eritrean troops, refugees told AFP.
Eritrean soldiers also committed abuses, the refugees said, arresting dozens, possibly more, and taking them to an unknown location.
Eventually, Eritrean forces took control of Hitsats and Shimelba and forced those who remained in the camps to evacuate, the refugees said.
Many have embarked on multi-day treks to find safety through an active conflict zone, often with nothing to eat but moringa leaves.
Killings, looting
Before the war, 92,000 Eritrean refugees lived in Tigray, including 19,200 in Hitsats and Shimelba, according to the Ethiopian Agency for Refugees and Returnees (ARRA).
More than 5,000 of those fleeing the destroyed camps ended up in Mai Aini and a nearby facility, Adi Harush, though they never felt comfortable there, the boss said. ARRA, Tesfahun Gobezay.
Many fear being associated with Eritrean soldiers, who have been implicated in the mass rape of Tigrayan civilians and the massacres that have left hundreds dead.
“They said they were being targeted because they were considered Eritreans,” Tesfahun told AFP.
“There was growing mistrust between the Eritrean refugees and the host communities. This is the reason for their fear.
The refugees have been caught in the crossfire in the Tigray conflict. By EDUARDO SOTERAS (AFP) The violence that broke out on July 13 in Mai Aini undoubtedly increased these fears.
It started after the rebels, fresh out of the takeover of the Tigrayan capital Mekele in late June, launched a new offensive to reclaim contested territory in southern and western Tigray, where Mai Aini and Adi Harush are located.
At least one Eritrean refugee has been killed, the UN refugee agency said last week, while ARRA said at least six refugees were reportedly killed by TPLF “militants”.
The ARRA also accused the TPLF of deploying heavy artillery to Mai Aini and Adi Harush, looting vehicles and warehouses and preventing the refugees from leaving, creating what amounted to “a strike. hostages “.
Rebel spokesman Getachew Reda dismissed the allegations.
“We have no problem with the Eritrean refugees, and we will extend any protection possible,” he said.
“This is the practice and this is the policy.”
“We will sleep in the mud”
Despite these assurances, the refugees are singularly focused on their exit from Tigray.
“Eritreans are slaughtered and killed by stones in Tigray and around Shire (town),” said Solomon Tesfamariam, echoing an unverified claim made by several refugees.
“So from now on I don’t think Tigray is a comfortable place for us Eritreans.”
In light of the latest violence, authorities are accelerating the resettlement of refugees from southern Tigray to a 90-hectare (225-acre) site in Dabat.
A young boy takes a mattress distributed by an aid group in Azezo camp. By EDUARDO SOTERAS (AFP) Priority is given to those who fled Hitsats and Shimelba, followed by “those who have the greatest fears,” Tesfahun said.
The first 79 refugees arrived last week, according to the UN.
When AFP visited the site in mid-July, it was little more than a muddy, open expanse surrounded by wheat fields and pastures.
But refugees like Solomon stressed that they wanted to come right away, even if the facilities were not ready.
“The shelter and everything is for tomorrow. Now lives must be saved,” Solomon said.
“We’ll sleep in the mud if we have to.”
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