Thousands of Refugees Flee To Sudan from Ethiopia Conflict
Nairobi: Thousands of Ethiopian refugees were fleeing into neighbouring Sudan on Wednesday as federal troops continued to battle local forces in the closed-off northern Tigray region.
With outsiders barred and communications down, the status of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s week-long offensive against regional rulers the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was unclear.
Half a dozen journalists have been arrested, according to the country’s human rights commission, raising fears of an erosion of recent democratic advances in Ethiopia.
Security sources and state media have spoken of hundreds of deaths in the mountainous state of more than 5 million people, where federal warplanes have been bombing arms depots as soldiers fight on the ground.
Given deep antipathy between the Tigrayans and Abiy, who comes from the largest Oromo ethnic group, and ethnic frictions elsewhere around Ethiopia, there are fears of civil war and knock-ons around the Horn of Africa region.
Ethiopia reached a peace agreement with neighbouring Eritrea two years ago, for which Abiy won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, but both governments have long-held grudges against the TPLF.
Abiy’s government also has troops deployed in Somalia helping to combat an Islamist insurgency.
United Nations sources told Reuters the Tigray conflict had already sent 6,000-7,000 people fleeing across the border into Sudan, with Khartoum fearing that number could balloon.
“The number is increasing around the clock,” said Alsir Khaled, an official from the Sudanese refugee commission.
Abiy, who at 44 is Africa’s youngest leader, launched operations in Tigray last week after accusing the local government there of attacking a military base.
The United Nations, African Union and others are calling for a ceasefire, but diplomats and security officials say Abiy is intent on crushing the Tigrayan leaders and not ready to mediate.
