Ethiopians flee in their thousands to Sudan as aid agencies sound the alarm

A picture taken through a car window shows Ethiopian Amhara militia fightersas they mobilise towards Tigray in the Northwest of the city of Gondar, Ethiopia

Credit:  AFP

Thousands of Ethiopians are fleeing across the border into Sudan, as aid agencies warn of a "refugee emergency" linked to the intensifying conflict in the northern Tigray region.

Authorities in Sudan said they were expecting up to 200,000 refugees to enter the country, a week after Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister launched an invasion of the semi-autonomous region.

At least 10,000 have travelled into Sudan so far, including 7,000 in the past two days, according to the UN. Tigray borders Eritrea and Sudan, and the escalating conflict has prompted fears of a drawn-out, full-scale civil war which could engulf the region.

Tigray regional map, Ethiopia

“There are lots of children and women,” Al-Sir Khalid, who heads the refugee agency in Sudan’s Kassala provinceon the border, told The Associated Press.

“They are arriving very tired and exhausted. They are hungry and thirsty since they have walked long distances on rugged terrain.”

Hundreds are feared dead amid heavy fighting and fighter jet airstrikes. On Thursday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Ethiopia’s military had defeated Tigrayan forces.

“The western region of Tigray has been liberated,” he tweeted in Amharic. "In the liberated areas, the army is now providing humanitarian assistance and services. It is feeding people."

His claims surrounding the status of the conflict were impossible to verify, as internet, electricity and phone lines have been down and roads blocked around the region.

Aid agencies have warned they are unable to access the region to provide emergency food and medical supplies due to the road closures.

The dramatic escalation came after months of growing tensions between Abiy’s federal government in Addis Ababa and Tigray’s ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

 Amhara militiamen are fighting with the government against forces mustered by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in the north of Ethiopia

Credit:  AFP

The TPLF declared a state of emergency in the region against an "invasion by outsiders" to "defend the security and existence of the people of Tigray and their sovereignty," according to regional broadcaster Tigray TV.

The federal government claims it is trying to liberate the region from the TPLF, which it has accused of atrocities during the fighting, and that the Tigrayan leaders are trying to destabilise the government and incite violence amongst the country’s array of ethnicities.

The TPLF dominated politics for nearly three decades before Abiy came to power in 2018. Under Abiy, Tigray’s leaders have complained bitterly of being sidelined and scapegoated.