On Sunday, Daily Mail posted new satellite images of the Eritrean refugee camp in Tigray, Shimelba, that was attacked recently. The images expressed that 400 structures were badly damaged during an “intentional attack” by fighters.
DX Open Network highlighted, “it is likely that the fire events of 16 January are yet another episode in a series of military incursions on the camp as reported by (the United Nations refugee agency).”
The Shimelba camp hosted 96,000 refugees from nearby Eritrea and it was badly affected by the fights nearby Tigray which caused the fleeing of many refugees.
In the same context, the U.N. refugee agency urged Ethiopian authorities to given it access to the camp.
“Until November, 8,700 refugees were registered in Shimelba. We have no information on how many refugees were still in the camp last week,” the agency’s spokesman Chris Melzer said in an email.
He added, “We still have no access to the two northern camps, Shimelba and Hitsats (25,248 refugees registered in November). We demand access since the refugees are without supplies for two and a half months now and we are extremely concerned.”
“We also saw satellite pictures and heard frightening reports. But since we don´t have access we cannot confirm them,” he continued.
