Press Release - Refugees in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia
Ethiopia currently hosts over 90,000 Sudan ese refugees and asylum seekers, including more than 38,000 who fled following the outbreak of armed conflict between the Sudan ese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023. Over 10,000 refugees of other nationalities have also fled Sudan into Ethiopia .
Civilian access to humanitarian aid has remained severely constrained. On May 24, gunmen fired at a humanitarian convoy traveling between Gonder and Metemma, killing an aid workerThe camp was in the middle of villages. You would see many young men crossing the camp, carrying guns. Last month there was fighting between the villages. We were trapped in the middle…. Each day we heard someone was killed.
Human Rights Watch reviewed two videos, and four photographs posted to Facebook on June 17 that show Adila’s body in Gendewuha hospital. Her dress is covered in blood and a photograph shows at least two bullet wounds on the side of her head. Her death certificate, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, states that she died of excessive bleeding and a penetrating head injury caused by bullet wounds.
In Kumer, federal police set up a post on the edges of camp. A 45-year-old Kumer resident said: “The attacks happened inside the camps, but the federal police weren’t protecting us, just themselves. It wasn’t even safe for them…. We were on our own.” On July 17, gunmen attacked Kumer camp, killing 10 Ethiopian federal police and injuring a 3 or 4-year-old refugee child. “I was in my tent when the gunfire started around 5 a.m.,” said a 51-year-old camp resident. “They came from behind the refugee tents and started shooting at the police. The police couldn’t respond; I think because they didn’t want to hurt us. The gunmen took 10 police behind the camp and killed them all.
The refugees remained there for about 100 days, relying on donations from Sudanese in the diaspora to eat. “We would try and buy flour, shiro with the money sent to us, but sometimes the federal police would take it and spill it on the road,” said one refugee. “They wanted us to go back to the camp.”
The attacks continued. On August 2, seven gunmen robbed a 38-year-old man selling goods. “I hid my phone in my pocket, but they still hit me with their weapons,” he said. “I was hit badly on my spine and was urinating blood for a long time.” The man said three other refugees were shot and badly injured.Refugee Returns at the Border
“We wanted to go with IOM . We wanted to preserve our rights and go properly,” said a community leader. Instead, “e were made to cross the border by being threatened with weapons, beaten with sticks and, with Sudanese authorities waiting on the other side.”I was forced to go back to transit camp with my two children. The forces, as well as UN and RRS officials left after taking us there. We were left without tents, food, or anything. I looked for my two sisters and couldn’t find them.
After Sudanese refugees returned to Sudan’s Gedaref state, the governor visited al Galabat town, where authorities established an emergency camp for returnees. The governor said in an interview that many of those returnees are youth and called on them to join training camps to defeat rebel forces.The refugees forced to go to the Metemma transit center did not have shelter, food, or security.
A 51-year-old refugee said that while the Fano haven’t harmed the refugees, “they are many in number … and enter the camp every day with their weapons.” Immediately provide, with international support, humanitarian assistance to Sudanese refugees, and ensure that they have adequate access to food, shelter, and health care.
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