Refugees accuse Ethiopian forces of blocking them from entering Sudan as fighting rages
HAMDAYET, Sudan — Ethiopian forces on Thursday blocked people fleeing the country’s embattled Tigray region from entering Sudan at the busiest border crossing point for refugees, Sudanese forces said.
Their account follows allegations by refugees in previous days of Ethiopian forces stopping people from fleeing the month-old deadly conflict in Tigray between Ethiopian forces and Tigray regional forces.
Members of the Sudanese forces, speaking on condition of anonymity, said people tried to cross from Ethiopia around 6a.m. to Ham day et in Sudan but were stopped, and refugees waiting on the Sudan side became upset and began throwing rocks.
The Sudanese forces then cleared the area, and on Thursday evening they confirmed that the border crossing remained closed.
Tensions have been rising at the border in recent days as the flow of Ethiopians crossing has slowed to hundreds per day from several thousand. People continue to flee Ethiopia several days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared victory in the conflict, and reports of fighting continue in the Tigray region, which remains largely cut off from the world.
A senior Ethiopian government official who has served as spokesman during the conflict did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Asked over the weekend about refugees’ allegations blocked crossings, United Nations refugee chief Filippo Grandi told reporters that his team had not raised the ment. issue But with refugees Ethiopia’s told him govern- about the “many checkpoints” and pockets of insecurity they faced as they fled.
“We have not heard of any systematic sealing-off,” Grandi said. “But certainly there are growing difficulties.” More than 45,000 Ethiopians have fled into the remote area of Sudan, first straining the generosity of local communities and then challenging the capacity of humanitarian groups that have hurried to set up a system to feed, shelter and care for them from scratch.
Nearly half the refugees are children, the U.N. has said, and many people came with nothing. Refugees have recounted horrific journeys of fleeing attacks and arriving on foot after two or three days of walking in the heat.
Authorities have said they are preparing for as many as 100,000 refugees. But Ethiopia’s government has said it welcomes the refugees to come home for reintegration and has vowed their protection.
Many of the refugees, mainly ethnic Tigrayans, have said it was Ethiopian forces they were flee-ing.
“The world is silent. They are not doing anything for us. They are silent,” said one refugee, Geren Hawas. “Until nowthey didn’t do anything. It has been a month and they didn’t do anything. The world has its laws. People are dying from hunger, by guns, they are dying. Why are they being silent?”
With communications only now slowly returning to parts of the Tigray region said to be under Ethiopian forces’ control, it’s been difficult to verify the warring sides’ claims or know the extent of the devastation.