Nearly 300 Ethiopians flee conflict for asylum in Djibouti: UNHCR

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 19 — Nearly 300 Ethiopians have asked for asylum in neighboring Djibouti due to the conflict in the East African country’s northern Tigray region, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) disclosed on Friday.
20 Ethiopians of Tigrayan origin have recently arrived and requested asylum in Ethiopia’s eastern neighbor Djibouti, bringing the total number of Ethiopians who have been registered as refugees since the onset of the conflict in Tigray to around 300, the agency said in its latest situation update.
This figure is in addition to the more than 61,200 Ethiopian refugees the UNHCR has registered in Ethiopia’s western neighbor Sudan since armed confrontations between the federal and regional forces in the Tigray region broke out in early November.
In addition to Ethiopians fleeing to Sudan, the UNHCR and its partners have established a regular presence in the two Eritrean refugee camps, Mai-Aini and Adi Harush, in Ethiopia’s conflict-affected Tigray region, it added.
Months of fighting in northern Ethiopia’s TPLF, which used to rule the Tigray regional state until last November, and the Ethiopian National Defense Forces have reportedly left thousands of people dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, and millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
According to Ethiopian government figures, the Tigray region conflict has resulted in the displacement of around 2.2 million people, while 4.5 million people in total are in need of emergency aid.

– Xinhua