Ethiopian Crisis: UNHCR says it has reached destroyed camps in northern Tigray
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The UN refugee agency said on Friday that it has gained access to the Shimelba and Hitsats refugee camps in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region for the first time since November 2020, amid ongoing security concerns.
UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said during a joint mission to the area with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, they found both camps completely destroyed, and all the humanitarian facilities looted and vandalized.
UNHCR spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov told a press briefing in Geneva that in Hitsats, most of the shelters in an area known as zone A, as well as UNHCR’s offices and staff guest house, were found burnt to the ground.
It said the mission confirmed what satellite imagery and accounts from refugees had indicated at the beginning of this year.
"UNHCR is deeply concerned for the well-being of the Eritrean refugees who had been residing there, all of whom have fled the camps," Mr. Cheshirkov said.
UNHCR said the joint mission was also able to visit Shiraro town; refugees are understood to be scattered in the area and in urgent need of safety and support.
Mr. Cheshirkov said a subsequent mission will seek to identify the numbers living there and assess the possibility for UNHCR and Ethiopia’s Agency for Refugees and Returnee Affairs (ARRA), to deliver assistance and plan for voluntary relocation.
He said UNHCR’s individual reception, counselling and registration services have reopened in both camps. UNHCR and its partners are scaling up child protection and gender-based violence support services.
UNHCR reiterated the joint UN call for all parties to urgently enable the free and safe movement of affected people in search of safety and assistance, including across international and within national borders, regardless of their ethnic identification.
It also called for the right to seek asylum to be fully respected.
-0- PANA MA 26March2021
