Reports are coming through that one of the four refugee camps in Tigray province of Ethiopia, Adi Harush, has been bombarded with artillery by the Federal Government forces. It is reported that five refugees are dead and ten wounded.
Following a period of electoral and constitutional disputes, the prime minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, ordered federal forces on 4th November to move into the northern Tigray Province and impose a state of emergency. Heavy fighting has been underway ever since.
There are over 100,000 refugees in Tigray, almost all Eritrean, living largely in four refugee camps: Hitsats, Mai-Aini, Adi-Harush and Shemelba. Since road transportation is in total lockdown in Tigray, the UNHCR and other aid agencies are unable to provide food or health care. These refugees have run out of food rations and are facing immediate starvation.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed is reported to have stated that “all the necessary precautionary measures have been taken to ensure that civilians are not harmed” in the conflict. It is now clear that the military strategy being pursued by the Ethiopian federal forces in Tigray has put civilians and refugees in mortal danger, and at least five refugees and an unknown number of Tigrayan civilians have already lost their lives as the direct result. The ten wounded refugees have not received any medical treatment and are still at the Adi Harush refugee camp suffering.
It has also been reported that Eritrean security agents have kidnapped several Eritrean refugees from Hitsats and Shimelba refugee camps, leaving the refugees in the four camps in a state of panic and anxiety. The security agents enter the camps at night, raiding the refugee shelters and taking the individuals to unknown destination.
Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE) commented in a Press Release earlier this month that was hard to believe that artillery attacks would be so precise as to avoid harming civilians. The bombardment of the Adi Harush refugee camp has proven only too clearly how prescient this warning was. Military bombardment of areas occupied by large numbers of civilians cannot legitimately be pursued whilst observing the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1950). Clearly, war crimes may have already been committed in this conflict.
Elizabeth Chyrum, Director of HRCE, issued the following statement: –
- Artillery and aerial attacks in the vicinity of refugee camps must cease forthwith. The Federal Government and military forces of Ethiopia must order the immediate cessation of all such offensive actions as a matter of urgency, and declare a no-fire/no-fly zone covering the entire mid-western region around the Hitsats, Mai-Aini, Adi-Harush and Shemelba refugee camps.
- The survival of Eritreans and others in the refugee camps is now endangered. It is vital that the Ethiopian government takes action to open safe corridors to enable the UNHCR to provide all necessary food and medical services for these refugees, otherwise, thousands will die of starvation and related illnesses.
- The Ethiopian government must now recognise that its forces are involved in actions which may constitute war crimes, and must take immediate action to ensure that all its troops observe the stipulations of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1950).
- Since it has now become clear that Eritrean military forces are in action alongside the Ethiopian federal troops, and have already kidnapped a number of Eritrean refugees from Hitsats and Shimelba refugee camps in Tigray, there are very real concerns that more Eritrean refugees may be forcibly returned to Eritrea, where arrest, imprisonment and torture would almost certainly be their fate. The Ethiopian Government must address such criminal activities by the Eritrean troops immediately, and ensure that such mistreatment of vulnerable refugees is prevented.
- HRCE appeals to all member states of the UN to put pressure on the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea with regard to the issues articulated above as a matter of urgency, and to immediately prioritise the protection of Eritrean refugees.”
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
