Africa-Press-Ethiopia
SATELLITE images were released at the weekend showing over 400 structures in an refugee camp in Ethiopia’s Tigray region were torched on Saturday.
DX Open Network says the attack, on the Shimelba camp for Eritrean refugees, was the result of an “intentional attack” by fighters, though it could not confirm the identity of the attackers.
“It is likely that the fire events of January 16 are yet another episode in a series of military incursions on the camp as reported by [the UN refugee agency],” it said.
It said the attackers probably went door-to-door setting the buildings alight.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has slammed “reliable reports and first-hand accounts” of abuses including the forced return of refugees to Eritrea.
Eritrean troops are believed to have entered the area, where fighting continues following the Ethiopian government’s attack on the regional government led by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Thousands of people have been killed and an estimated two million displaced.
But Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel rejected Mr Grandi’s accusations, tweeting: “UNHCR seems to indulge, yet again, in another bout of gratuitous & irresponsible smear campaigns against Eritrea.”
Eritrea invaded Ethiopia’s Tigray region in 1998, resulting in two years of fighting. A peace deal was not signed until 2018, when the TPLF, which had dominated the Ethiopian government since 1991, had lost power to current Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The Eritrean authorities have always viewed the now fugitive TPLF as an enemy.
