The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Wednesday confirmed that the number of registered Ethiopian refugees in Sudan has decreased and their whereabouts are unknown.
“While there has been a modest decrease in the number of Ethiopian refugees in the refugee camps in recent months, UNHCR is not able to verify the whereabouts of those who have left,” UNHCR said.
UNHCR, however, said it speculated that the missing refugees largely from Tigray region have returned to Ethiopia and involved in the conflict there.
It called the decrease in number “modest.” It was unspecified as to where those registered asylum seekers moved to after they left the refugee camps.
Furthermore, UNHCR remarked on the situation, saying “Refugee status is incompatible with active participation in armed conflict. Any registered refugees who may have returned to Ethiopia and joined the conflict are no longer considered refugees.”
Last week, top Ethiopian military general, Bacha Debelle, confirmed that Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attempt to open up a corridor between Sudan and Tigray region failed after more than 10,000 TPLF rebels soldiers were annihilated by the Ethiopian Defense Force and Amhara region security forces.
There was also a report from state media about a week ago that forces who attempted to infiltrate Ethiopia from Sudan with the intention to create disability in the area where Ethiopia’s mega project, GERD, is located were neutralized by the Ethiopian Defense Force. However, it was not confirmed if they were linked to those who fled from the refugee camps in Sudan.
An estimated 40,000 TPLF forces were believed to have crossed the Ethio-Sudan border in November 2020 after they lost the war they triggered against the Ethiopian Defense Force and Eritrea too.
MG/abj/APA