Gov`t Safely Returning Eritrean Refugees to Camps: State of Emergency Fact Check

Addis Ababa December 11/2020 (ENA) The Government of Ethiopia is safely returning Eritrean refugees to their respective camps where they can have access to service delivery systems and live peacefully, Ethiopia State of Emergency Fact Check said.

The Ethiopia refugee operation is now home to close to 200,000 Eritrean refugees across the country, most of them mainly sheltered in Tigray and Afar regions as well as in Addis Ababa.

The recently concluded law enforcement military operation by the federal government in the Tigray region of Ethiopia was not a direct threat to the Eritrean refugees who are living within and outside the camps, the Emergency Fact Check stated.

However, a large number of misinformed Eritrean refugees have been moving out in an irregular manner, particularly from Mai-Ayni and Adi-Harush refugee camps to Addis Ababa.

The statement noted that such an unregulated movement of the refugees with high dependence on aid will create difficulties in ensuring their safety, security, dignity, and in providing a coordinated protection and assistance.

Given the priority the government gives to humanitarian assistance, the refugees were kept in a dignified manner and sheltered and nurtured by the government, it pointed out.

Simultaneously, the government is working tirelessly to fully reactivate and continue provision of critical lifesaving services to the refugees as well as to ensure a safe and secured operating environment for front line responders.

As a result transportation of food to the camps is underway among other things. At this point in time, the areas in Tigray region in which the Eritrean refugee camps are situated are stable given that they are under the full control of the federal government, the statement elaborated.

With that understanding, therefore, the government is safely returning those refugees to their respective camps where they can have access to service delivery systems, and more importantly they can live lawfully and peacefully with the communities that host them.

The Government of Ethiopia is currently providing protection to nearly one million refugees mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan.