Many Eritreans fled across the sea or to Ethiopia to escape political persecution and war
Fredrick Nzwili, Catholic News Service
Updated: February 05, 2021 05:17 AM GMT
Feb 3, 2021 7 Priest says thousands of refugees in Tigray deported to Eritrea Feb 5, 2021
Eritrean refugees queue during a distribution of items organised the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at Mai Aini Refugee camp, in Ethiopia, on January 30, 2021. (Photo: EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP)
In the midst of the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, thousands of Eritrean refugees who fled oppression and authoritarianism have been deported back to their home country, said an Eritrean Catholic priest.
Father Mussie Zerai, a priest of the Archdiocese of Asmara, Eritrea, who works with migrants, said the refugees were in Schimelba and Hitsats camps, which hosted about 20,000 refugees. He said about 10,000 of them were deported back to Eritrea.
The refugees are part of the 96,000 who were hosted in four camps in Tigray. The Eritreans had fled political persecution, compulsory military service and war back home.
“About 5,000 managed to escape and reach the Mai-Aini refugee camp, which now houses over 20,000; 5,000 people are missing,” Father Zerai told Catholic News Service.
“What happened in the refugee camps in Tigray is a cruel violation of the Geneva Convention of 1951,” which relates to the status of a refugee, the priest said. “We know there have been violence and killings.
Father Zerai, chairman of Habeshia, a humanitarian organization that advocates for migrants and refugees’ rights, said it was not clear what happened to those who were deported. Some news reports indicate the refugees are being held in prisons.
“We know that they are considered deserters and therefore await their arrest and a period of ‘correction and re-education,’ according to the regime’s modalities. The use of violence and torture often abounds, especially for those who had been staff of the regime’s army,” said the priest.
“After the punishment period is over, if they survive, they will be forced to return to military service and national service,” he added.
Father Zerai said the government of Ethiopia, which was supposed to guarantee safety in the camps, bore the greatest responsibility for the latest development in the settlements. He called for an immediate investigation into attacks, rape of women, killing of children and the deportations.
“The U.N. must investigate every aspect of this horrible fratricidal war,” he said.