Ethiopia 'forcibly returns, abducts, kills' Eritrean refugees at border: UNHCR report

Ethiopia is returning hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled the armed conflict in the embattled Tigray region to escape imminent assaults as the Ethiopian army mobilized in the region’s “final phase” of a military offensive to arrest rebellious factions. As mass exodus ensued with more than 45,000 displaced Ethiopians and Eritrean refugees fleeing across to the border with Sudan, security forces transported them back at Ethiopia-Eritrea entry barricades in buses. The UN described the move as "disturbing and alarming” as the Sudanese military on the ground alleged that the Ethiopian forces blocked Eritrean refugees from crossing the juncture at busiest points. 

A UN security team was earlier denied access to Eritrean refugees settlement camps and was shot at by federal troops, Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the Ethiopian government’s task force had confirmed in a statement. The UN refugee agency alleged that it had received ’disturbing’ reports about Eritrean refugees in Tigray being killed, abducted, and forcibly returned to Eritrea. “These actions constitute a major violation of international law,” the UNHCR warned in a statement. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi alleged that refugees were fleeing the camps from different regions across Ethiopia, and some managed to reach Addis Ababa, however, they were met with traumatic events as they made to the border exhausted. Grandi urged for ‘stronger’ international co-operation for humanitarian assistance to the war fled refugees. 

Read: Ethiopia Rejects Independent Probes Into Tigray Conflict

Read: Ethiopian PM Says Troops Ordered To Move On Tigray Capital

[Tigrinyan refugee 38-year-old Rega Tsfay, malnourished mother of her 3-moth-old son Itbarak, stands for a photograph inside a tent, in Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan. Credit: AP]

The US says 'grave development'

In a separate report, the US Department of State alleged the involvement of Eritrean military troops in Ethiopia, saying, that the news is ‘credible’. A spokesperson for the US State Department warned the Eritrean soldiers to pull out of the conflict region immediately. Calling it a grave development, the US Department of State said that it was ‘aware’ of Eritrean troops' presence and human rights abuses in Tigray. The US has asked the international partners for an independent probe to bring human rights violators to justice and accountability for those responsible, the spokesperson said in a statement.

UN security teams on the ground, furthermore, observed troops wearing Eritrean uniforms operating in western Tigray, en route to the town of Shire, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, UN informed in a briefing. Meanwhile, Ethiopia's Government said its army had completed a military offensive and was not a direct threat to the "misinformed" Eritrean refugees. In a statement, the Ethiopian government asked the refugees to “safely return” to their respective camps. 

Read: UN Warns Of 'very Critical' Shortages In Ethiopia's Tigray

Read: Ethiopia Warns Tigray People: Anything Can Happen

(Image Credit: UNHCR)