Nairobi
About 2.2 million people have been displaced within Ethiopia’s Tigray region since fighting erupted there in November with about half fleeing after their homes were burned down, a local government official said.
Gebremeskel Kassa, a senior official in the interim administration in Tigray appointed by the federal government, made the comments in an interview broadcast by state-run ETV’s Tigriniya language channel late on Tuesday.
The figure given by the official was more than double a previous estimate for the number of people displaced of 950,000, which included 50,000 who had fled to neighbouring countries.
Ethiopia’s federal government restricted access to Tigray after fighting began on Nov. 4 between its troops and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political party that was governing the province. The government declared victory in late November though the TPLF has vowed to fight on.
The conflict in Tigray has called into question whether Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, can hold together fractious ethnic groups in the country.
An official from Ethiopia’s National Disaster Risk Management Commission told Reuters on Wednesday that the figures cited by the administrator in Tigray were not official.
The commission’s Mitiku Kassa said 110,000 people were displaced within Tigray and 1.8 million were in need of assessment, though he said the actual number of displaced was likely to be far higher than its current tally.
A U.N. refugee agency official also said on Tuesday that Ethiopians were still crossing into neighbouring Sudan from Tigray.
“Some 800 people crossed from Ethiopia’s Tigray region into eastern Sudan in just the first few days of the new year,” spokesman Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva.
A spokeswoman for Abiy’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report that refugees were continuing to cross into Sudan.
More than 56,000 people have now crossed into Sudan from Tigray since the conflict started, according to the U.N. refugee agency’s latest data.
For the tens of thousands of Ethiopians who have fled fighting in their homeland of Tigray to neighbouring Sudan, this year’s Coptic Christmas on January 7 is a sombre celebration.
There will be little feasting for those living hand-to-mouth in the crowded Um Raquba refugee camp, packed with some of the nearly 60,000 Ethiopians who have crossed into eastern Sudan since November seeking safety.
On Wednesday afternoon — Christmas Eve for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians — prices of basic goods soared in the dusty marketplace near the camp as people scrambled to buy food to celebrate.
“Everything is very expensive here,” said Haftoun Gebremikail, shopping at the market for something to mark the holiday.
“I just want to buy some lamb, sugar and milk — or anything! It’s Christmas.”
But many struggle to find anything within their budget.
Demand is high. The sprawling camp is already close to capacity, while the United Nations this week opened a new camp to cope with arrivals.
Refugees are continuing to flee the unrest in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, with 800 people having crossed the border into Sudan since the New Year, according to the UN.—AFP
