Human Rights Watch warns of danger facing Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees in Sudan

The organization’s Horn of Africa director, Laetitia Bader, said in a press statement that “the Rapid Support Forces attacked towns in Sennar State, which is adjacent to Gedaref State (eastern Sudan), which currently hosts more than 40,000 refugees from Ethiopia. In Kassala State (eastern Sudan), Eritreans fleeing repression and open forced conscription continue to arrive at the camps.”

She added, “An Ethiopian refugee told her that if the fighting approached Gedaref and Kassala, they would not be safe.”

She noted that “since the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan, Ethiopian refugees, who are mainly hosted in Gedaref, have raised very real concerns regarding their safety and lack of humanitarian support. Some of them have independently sought ways to leave the camps, but thousands remain there.”

She stressed that “without a clear strategy for protection or evacuation, those in the camps might be exposed to violence or attacks, especially following the Rapid Support Forces accused the Tigray forces of fighting alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces.”

“I understand the fears of some Ethiopian refugees regarding returning home because the real threat of violence or persecution that made them refugees may still exist, especially since the vast majority reside in two camps in Gedaref State and some in Kassala. They are from the western Tigray region of Ethiopia and fled a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign once morest the Tigrayans during Ethiopia’s two-year conflict while those responsible for these crimes still control the region,” she said.

Badr revealed that “the Ethiopian government has formed a committee to return refugees in Sudan to Ethiopia, but refugees inside the camps need travel permits from the Sudanese authorities.”

Badr called on “UN agencies to work with the Sudanese and Ethiopian authorities to assist refugees seeking to leave through safe, dignified, voluntary and organized pathways, ensuring that no one is coerced or forced to return to places where they are exposed to serious risks.”

There were indications that the Rapid Support Forces had penetrated into Gedaref State, which hosts more than 600,000 displaced Sudanese, in addition to tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees.

Clashes broke out on April 15 of last year between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army in Merowe and Khartoum, and quickly spread to other parts of Sudan.

As a result of the conflict, thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands were injured. The warring parties held a series of consultations in Jeddah in 2023, while a ceasefire between the army and special forces was repeatedly announced, but none of the agreements reached were fully implemented.

Source: “Sudan News”