Refugee Camps in Ethiopia

When fleeing from their home countries to Ethiopia in order to escape the impoverished, war-torn lives many had been living, these refugees had hardly expected to be welcomed with more danger and violence in a place that they had turned to as a safe haven for their families and loved ones. As the second-largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, Ethiopia has a history of providing humanitarian aid and refuge to those who are desperate for food, water, shelter, and health care. Ethiopia has a total of 26 refugee camps, which hosted 805,164 refugees as of March 31, 2021. Many of these refugees come from neighboring countries, and 99% of them have come from South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea. Despite the countries’ open-door policy, refugee camps lack services and resources.

Violence erupted between Ethiopia’s government and the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), when TPLF fighters attacked a federal military base. TPLF is a heavily armed, regional ruling political party located in Tigray, Ethiopia, that has been classified as a perpetrator in the Global Terrorism Database. On November 4, 2020, Ethiopia’s federal government launched a “law enforcement operation” in response to TPLF’s attack on the military base, claiming that valuable weapons and artillery were stolen. There had already been a long-simmering feud between the federal government and TPLF. This is because Mr. Abiy, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, plans to increase the federal government’s power and minimize the freedom of lower levels of government. Tigray has openly resisted, and is against a centralized governmental system. Tensions flared after this military base attack, and Mr. Abiy’s cabinet declared a six-month state of emergency in Tigray.

Unfortunately, these conflicts erupted at an unstable time for Ethiopia; the country had already been struggling to cope with the effects of the pandemic on its citizens, a deadly locust outbreak that is ravaging crops, as well as undergoing delicate democratic transitions; 1.2 million people were already displaced due to inter-ethnic violence caused by the tensions between political parties. Therefore, an immense humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia has formed, forcing many refugees that had arrived in the country seeking protection to return to the regions they came from in order to escape more violence. The U.N’s refugee agency states that 50,000 citizens have fled to neighboring Sudan. 4.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, as many no longer have access to food, shelter, electricity, sanitation, and water. Currently, there are nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees residing in what remains of Ethiopia’s refugee camps. But what remains may not be enough for these desperate citizens to survive. The camps have run out of all food and supplies, and there have been alarming reports of attacks, fighting, and abductions within the camps. Due to roads and airports being blocked, it is difficult for the UN to provide such a vast number of people with food and support. However, after finally being able to reach two of the refugee camps in the Tigray region after months of attempts, the UN found both of the camps destroyed with the thousands of refugees who previously lived there having been displaced in various parts of the region.

Prime Minister Abiy claimed that no civilians were killed during military operations; however, many Ethiopian refugees have a different story to tell. “They shot my 11-year-old son twice. He was bleeding. I pleaded with them to let me take him to a doctor. But they said to let him die,” Gibreselassie told The World. “How could he kill a young boy like my innocent young boy? Even if he didn’t kill him, his military killed him,” cried Gibreselassie, who said he fled to Sudan soon after burying his son. For weeks, he slept out in the open in the camp, which struggles to meet the basic needs of more than 20,000 refugees who now live there. Two refugees, Amanuel and Samuel, who live in a refugee camp in the Tigray region, shared with the UNHCR how difficult their lives have been: “At the beginning of the conflict, I thought food and clean water were our biggest problems. But now it is the security situation. We live in fear every night, that conflict will begin again. We fear thieves and looters taking advantage of the lack of law and order.”

To help with this crisis, you can donate to organizations such as UNHCR, GlobalGiving, Ethar Relief, and Save The Children. Even if you are not able to provide financial aid, signing petitions and spreading awareness will have a massive impact on these civilians who are in desperate need of assistance from the rest of the world.