Addis Abeba — Human Rights First Ethiopia, a local human rights group, has issued an urgent call for the protection and relocation of Tigrayan refugees and former UN peacekeepers in eastern Sudan, as fighting between Sudanese forces spreads to areas near refugee camps.
The organization warns that tens of thousands of ethnic Tigrayan refugees are in "extreme distress and danger" as conflict between the Sudan Rapid Support Force (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) intensifies in the region.
This appeal echoes a similar statement released on 10 July by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which urged international organizations to provide safe evacuation options for refugees in Gedaref and Kassala states.
"If the fighting approaches Gedaref and Kassala, we will not be safe," an Ethiopian refugee told HRW, highlighting the growing anxiety among the approximately 40,000 Ethiopian refugees in the area.
Human Rights First states, "The fighting has widened to areas in or near the eastern Sudanese states of Gedaref, Sennar, and Kassala," expressing particular concern over a recent RSF claim that Tigrayan forces are fighting alongside the SAF.
On 05 May, 2024, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) released a statement claiming that the RSF had obtained credible evidence suggesting that "forces from the TPLF are fighting alongside the SAF and its allied militias connected to the terrorist former regime." This claim was strongly refuted by the Tigray Interim Administration as "baseless" and "apparently designed to shore up international support for its campaign against the SAF."
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Human Rights First Ethiopia fears this development could put Tigrayan refugees at heightened risk, noting the RSF's "previously known" involvement in "genocidal acts" in Darfur and other regions of Sudan.
The organization is calling for "urgent resettlement" of the refugees and former peacekeepers to their home areas in western Tigray and other parts of Ethiopia, in line with the Pretoria peace agreement. Failing that, they propose "urgent relocation... to third countries."
"It's imperative that those forces that committed gross crimes such as ethnic cleansing of ethnic Tigrayans in western Tigray... be withdrawn," the statement reads, emphasizing the need for swift action to ensure the refugees' safety.
Last week, Ambassador Nebiyu Tedla, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, told Voice of America (VOA) that the Ethiopian government has established a national committee and has been repatriating Ethiopian citizens since the commencement of the conflict in Sudan.
The spokesperson added that the government has been returning citizens from both within and outside camps, with approximately 40,000 people repatriated so far.
Human Rights First has appealed to multiple entities, including the Sudanese and Ethiopian governments, the UN, and Western powers, to assist in this effort, urging all parties to "undertake their responsibilities" in addressing this pressing humanitarian issue.
In May 2024, Addis Standard reported that more than 500 former Ethiopian peacekeepers of Tigrayan origin, who were stationed in the Abyei region bordering Sudan and South Sudan, were facing heightened security concerns amidst the escalating conflict in the country.
