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| Tens of thousands of people have fled the fighting in Tigray |
Among the thousands of people fleeing the five-week-old conflict
in Ethiopia's Tigray region are a few dozen men, women and children from
Eritrea, one of the world's most authoritarian states.
They
were already living as refugees in Tigray, which had long been a safe haven for
them during years of conflict and repression in Eritrea.
But
when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government launched a military
operation against Tigray's ruling party, the Eritrean refugees' illusion of
safety was shattered as violence escalated around their camps.
"Suddenly
soldiers came to our camp and they started shooting," Kheder Adam told AFP
in a Sudanese refugee camp. "The situation was very serious. There was a
lot gunfire."
Kheder
and his family had originally settled in one of the refugee camps in the
Sheraro area of Tigray near the Eritrean border around two years ago, he said.
For
years, Ethiopia and Eritrea had been officially in a state of war.
In
2018, Abiy took power, ending years of political dominance by the Tigray
People's Liberation Front -- sworn enemies of Eritrean President Isaias
Afwerki.
Abiy
and Afwerki signed a historic peace agreement that same year, winning the
Ethiopian leader the Nobel Peace Prize.
After
the dramatic shift in alliances, Abiy's forces launched their operation in
Tigray on November 4, Eritreans who had long benefitted from protection in
Ethiopia appear to have become a target.
Since
then, a few Eritrean refugees have managed to escape to Sudan.
The
UN, meanwhile, has expressed fears for the safety for those still in Tigray,
home to some 96,000 Eritrean refugees living in four refugee camps.
-
'Refugee again' -
Kheder,
30, who was separated by the recent violence from his wife and two children,
aged three and one, was among several Eritrean refugees interviewed by AFP at a
reception centre for new arrivals from Ethiopia in Hamdayit on the eastern
Sudanese border.
"Some
of the soldiers were Eritreans, some of them were (Ethiopian) federal
soldiers," said Kheder, of the attack on the camp in Tigray.
"They
were shooting at all people. All -- women, men, children," he said.
His
comments were echoed Friday by a US State Department spokesperson -- though the
Ethiopian government, a US ally, has denied the claim.
"I
feel worried and sad to be a refugee again. There I was a refugee, and here I
am also a refugee. It's really difficult," said Kheder.
He
cited Eritrea's notorious policy of universal, indefinite conscription as one
reason why he fled his home country in the first place.
"They
forced us" to undergo a mandatory national service in Eritrea, he said.
"That's why we decided to go to Ethiopia."
The
Eritrean regime once used its war against Ethiopia to justify its system of
universal conscription.
But
the system remains in place despite the fact that the war ended in the year
2000, followed by the peace agreement in 2018.
Rights
groups say Eritrea's national service often extends for years and any act of
desertion or perceived disobedience leads to jail and torture.
- 'Safe'
in Sudan -
Along
with some three dozen other Eritreans, Kheder has found shelter in Hamdayit
reception camp, with camp authorities keeping them separate from Ethiopian
refugees.
According
to camp manager Yaaqoub Mohammad, the Eritreans, like the Ethiopians, are safe
in Sudan.
But
he worries for the Eritreans still in Tigray, after what he describes, citing
the refugees themselves, as "an attack" on refugee camps in Sheraro.
"The
survivors fled to save their lives. Some of them were able to reach Sudan,
while we don't know where the others are," Mohammad says.
On
Friday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he was
"deeply alarmed about the safety and well-being of Eritrean refugees in
Ethiopia" caught in the conflict in Tigray.
"Over
the last month we have received an overwhelming number of disturbing reports of
Eritrean refugees in Tigray being killed, abducted and forcibly returned to
Eritrea," he added in a statement.
Prior
to the conflict, UNHCR and other aid agencies provided aid for Eritrean
refugees in the camps in Ethiopia.
But
most UNHCR staff have since been evacuated out of concern for their safety, and
Ethiopia has restricted access to Tigray.
Speaking
to AFP in Gedaref, a Sudanese town near the camps, UNHCR's principal emergency
coordinator Andrew Mbogori said Eritrean refugees find themselves in an
especially difficult situation in Tigray.
"You
can imagine, you are a refugee in a country and then this country conflict
erupts so you find yourself in double trouble," Mbogori said, adding they
were "encountering a lot of difficulties".
-
'Living peacefully' -
Seated
on a bench under the blazing midday sun with fellow Eritrean refugees, Shishay
Yacoubay, a 46-year-old with a short goatee, says he arrived in Hamdayit just days
afer violence erupted in Tigray.
Like
Kheder, he does not know where his wife and four children are, though he
believes they may still be at Hitsats camp near Sheraro in Tigray, where they
lived.
Shishay
also said Eritreans were among those firing at the camp.
"We
were living peacefully. But suddenly Eritreans and federal soldiers came and
started to fire at civilians," Shishay told AFP through a translator.
"So after that I fled the camp, separated from my family."
On
Friday, the United States said it believed Eritrean forces had entered Tigray
and urged their withdrawal.
"We
are aware of credible reports of Eritrean military involvement in Tigray and
view this as a grave development," a State Department spokesperson said.
But
Ethiopian ambassador to the US Fitsum Arega denied this, saying in a tweet:
"Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth!"
-
Dissidents, deserters -
If
confirmed, the presence of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray would represent a major
shift in a conflict that has already pushed nearly 50,000 people from Tigray
into Sudan, according to UN figures.
With
Ethiopian-Eritrean relations restored, it may be that Eritrea no longer wants
Ethiopia to host any dissidents or deserters, according to William Davison,
senior analyst for Ethiopia with the International Crisis Group think tank.
"Some
of the Eritrean refugees who ended up in Ethiopia would have been conscripted
Eritrean soldiers who deserted," he told AFP.
"It
could be that the Eritrean government wants to punish them for leaving the
military... Because of improving relations, the Eritrean government has gained
more ability to influence the Ethiopian government not to be a host for
dissidents."
Speaking
to AFP from her home in Sweden, Swedish-Eritrean journalist Meron Estefanos
also believes draft evaders are being targeted.
"The
demographics in the camps, with a lot of people (evading) the Eritrean national
service, makes them a target," said Estefanos, who is monitoring the
conflict through a network of Eritrean contacts.
Rahwa,
a 19-year-old Eritrean woman with a red cotton print scarf over her hair and
black khol eyeliner, says she arrived in Ethiopia in early 2020.
She
was with a group of women and children inside a grim concrete shelter -- a
small improvement on the straw and wood makeshift shelters and tents that tens
of thousands of Ethiopians have made their temporary homes in Sudan's camps.
"My
parents are still in Eritrea and they want me to go back," Rahwa said
through a translator.
"But
I don't want to. If I go back, things will not be good for me," added the
young woman, who AFP is identifying only by her first name due to concerns for
her safety.
Because
she dropped out of school, she would be automatically drafted into the
military, she said.
"I don't want to do that. No, I cannot do that."
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