Khartoum/Addis Ababa, Nov. 12, (dpa/GNA) – Thousands of refugees from the conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region are fleeing across the border to neighbouring Sudan, officials said Wednesday, including defecting soldiers.
“We received thousands of Ethiopian refugees, families including women and children, and a number of fighters carrying weapons,” Kassala state secretary, Fateh al-Rahman al-Amin, told dpa.
He confirmed his state and Gedaref state had decided to close their borders because they were worried fighting could spill over.
A source from the Sudanese armed forces, who asked not to be named, said not only civilians, but some 500 fighters from Ethiopia, mainly from its federal army, had fled to Sudan and surrendered.
Al-Sir Khaled Mahmoud, a local official in charge of refugees, told dpa that some 10,000 Ethiopia refugees have now arrived in Sudan.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said they were working with the Sudanese government to help those arriving, putting the total number of the past two days at 7,000 and rising fast.
“With thousands of refugees arriving at the Sudanese border in the space of 24 hours, and with the conflict appearing to escalate, the number is likely to rise sharply. This will require a significant mobilization of resources to address the needs of those seeking asylum,” the UN agency said in a statement.
It was also concerned about the situation of the 96,000 refugees living in four Ethiopian camps and the 100,000 people from the Tigray region who had already been displaced when the offensive began.
In Ethiopia, “roads are blocked and electricity, phone and internet are down, making communication nearly impossible. There is a shortage of fuel, and banking services have halted resulting in a lack of cash,” the UNHCR said.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Ethiopia’s state-affiliated broadcaster reported Ethiopian army claims they have killed 500 members of the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
They also said they had seized a number of weapons including rocket-propelled grenades.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sought earlier this week to reassure the international community regarding military operations in the region, while the army said it was “pounding targets” in airstrikes.
The United Nations, African Union and international community have expressed concern Ethiopia could descend into full-blown civil war after Abiy last week ordered a curfew and sent soldiers in to put down an alleged rebel uprising by the TPLF – which is also the region’s ruling party.
Due to an internet blackout and blocked telephone lines, it is difficult for journalists in Addis Ababa to get a sense of what is happening on the ground in Tigray, which borders Sudan and Eritrea.
Reporters in Ethiopia are also under pressure to take a patriotic stance, with some reportedly arrested, while a plethora of fake news is doing the rounds on social media.
Abiy’s reputation as a new, more progressive kind of Ethiopian leader – one that won him the Nobel Peace Prize last year for making peace with Eritrea – could be badly hurt if the conflict escalates.
The TPLF long dominated Ethiopian politics, but since taking office in 2018, reformist Abiy has been at odds with the elites in Tigray, many of whom he has purged from the government.
The TPLF is already battle-hardened from fighting in a border war with Eritrea, and the Ethiopian army has said another rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Front, is now backing them in some areas.
The Oromo ethnic group, from which Abiy hails and which is the largest in the country, have long believed they are neglected by the government.
With so many ethno-nationalist tensions coming to the fore, analysts fear the potential balkanization of Africa’s second most populous country would have disastrous affects on the broader region, which includes war-torn Somalia.
GNA