Two refugee camps in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia, Shimelba and Hitsats, were completely destroyed a few months ago. These two camps accommodated almost 20,000 people.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) claims to have been able to rejoin 12,000 of these refugees, but the UN agency is now worried about the fate of some 8,000 other refugees.
These 8,000 other refugees from these two camps in the northern part of the Tigray region have “disappeared” and for some have been “deported” to Eritrea, as explained by Filippo Grandi, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, on tour in the Great Lakes region.
“We believe that they are mainly scattered in areas of Tigray that are not yet accessible to humanitarian workers. The information we have and which comes from other Eritreans with whom we have re-established contact tells us that in the beginning – towards the autumn of November last year – there were certainly a number of Eritreans who were forcibly deported to Eritrea by Eritrean troops still in Tigrays territory. I do not know if it was massive or if there were any isolated cases … but we know that it happened “, specifies Filippo Grandi.
“The request to initiate an investigation has already been made by the UN. What I asked is that this investigation also includes abuses committed against Eritrean refugees, that this should be taken into account by this investigation which must be, as I have said several times, independent and reliable “, emphasizes Filippo Grandi.
