Attachments
Key Developments
ETHIOPIA
On 21 January, UNHCR released a media briefing note expressing deep concerns at the deteriorating conditions faced by Eritrean refugees in the two remaining camps in the Tigray region, including the lack of food, water and medicine. After three weeks with no access due to the security situation, UNHCR staff managed to reach Mai Aini and Adi Harush refugee camps on 17 January for the first time since the air strikes earlier in the month in and near the camps. UNHCR has been calling on all parties for a ceasefire and guaranteed safe passage that would allow voluntarily relocation of the more than 25,000 refugees remaining in the camps to a new site provided by the government of Ethiopia in Dabat in the neighboring Amhara region.
On 28 January, WFP issued a press release on food insecurity levels in Tigray, indicating that 4.6 million people, or 83 per cent of the region’s population, are estimated to be food insecure. (The data excludes western Tigray.) The assessment, carried out in November 2021, also indicated that 2 million of these are severely food insecure, equivalent to Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) 4 & 5 levels. WFP said that “families are exhausting all means to feed themselves, with three quarters of the population using extreme coping strategies to survive.” Levels of food insecurity are most worrying in North-Western, Eastern, and Central zones of Tigray, where families are suffering from severe to very severe levels of hunger. The full report can be found here.
On 18 January, heavy fighting broke out in Tongo, Benishangul Gumuz Region (BSGR), reportedly between Ethiopian Security Forces and Unidentified Armed Groups (UAGs). Tongo refugee camp, which hosts some 12,000 refugees, was subsequently reportedly looted, and burned and all humanitarian staff evacuated from the area. The security situation in the area had been tense since December 2021 when fighting resulted in looting and burning of equipment from INGO and RRS offices and the relocation of humanitarian workers and government partners from Gure-Shembola refugee camp hosting some 10,000 refugees.
Some 22,000 refugees who had been residing in the two camps have since self-relocated to three main locations closer to Assosa, the regional capital. Benishangul Gumuz regional authorities have identified a new temporary site with capacity to accommodate 20,000 people. UNHCR and partners are working to install basic services including shelter, water points, and latrines and to begin relocating refugees to the new site as soon as possible.
The Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS) Deputy Director General and UNHCR’s Deputy Representative, along with senior management of WFP undertook a mission to Assosa from 27 to 28 January, to support the response and dialogue with the Regional Government. On 27 January, they met the Deputy President of BSGR and other relevant entities to discuss the emergency response. Cross border information sharing between UNHCR Ethiopia, and Sudan is ongoing, as well as for Government counterparts. The review of UNHCR regional contingency plans with Sudan is also under way.
Until recently refugees in BSRG had been hosted in five refugee camps: Sherkole (11,589), Tsore (18,484),
Bambasi (19,337), Tongo (11,822) and Gure-Shembola (10,343). Majority of the refugees (about 46,183) come from Sudan (mostly Blue Nile State) and arrived in Ethiopia in successive waves.