The United Nations Refugee Agency says thousands of Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia’s embattled northern Tigray Region are living under life-threatening conditions because they have no access to humanitarian aid, notably food and water, but also medical supplies.

More than 25,000 refugees live in Mai Aini and Adi Harush refugee camps in Tigray. Refugees told UNHCR of increasing preventable deaths—more than 20 over the last six weeks—linked to the overall decline in conditions, and in particular, the lack of medicine and health services. Extreme hunger is rising inexorably because supplies cannot be moved into the region. Food is running out in the camps and refugees have apparently been selling clothing and other belongings to get food.

The work of humanitarian aid agencies has been paralysed by a lack of fuel, preventing clean water from being pumped in or trucked to the camps. This has left refugees with no option but to drink from streams that are rapidly drying up, leaving them vulnerable to water-borne diseases. The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, warned that food distribution in Tigray is at its “all-time lowest”: food stocks and fuel are almost entirely exhausted.

Ethiopian Government forces have been waging a war in the region against the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) forces since November 2020. Eritrean Refugee camps were attacked earlier during this conflict, notably by soldiers from the Eritrean army, when two of the four camps were destroyed, and many of the refugees were forcibly marched away and kidnapped. Since then, very little food aid and medicine has reached the remaining camps because of government blockades and ongoing fighting, notably Ethiopian drone and air strikes. 

It appears that neither side can hope for a military victory. Only a negotiated ceasefire can solve the imminent threat to hundreds of thousands of lives, including the Eritrean refugees.

Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE) calls upon the government of Ethiopia and the Regional Government of Tigray: –

• To heed the urgent warnings of the UNHCR and the calls of OCHA concerning the imminent danger of mass starvation and death.
• To take immediate steps to end all military action in the areas surrounding refugee camps and other civilian facilities.
• To launch immediate efforts to arrange a temporary ceasefire in Tigray, and to allow safe passage for food and medical supplies into the entire region, with no distinctions made as to the ethnicity of the recipients.

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)

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