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In Pictures: Ethiopians fleeing war cross river into Sudan

Sudanese officials say they are doing what they can to support the sudden influx of refugees.

Ethiopians fleeing intense fighting in their homeland of Tigray, gather in the neighbouring Sudanese Village 8, east of the town of Gadarif. [Ebrahim Hamid/AFP]
Published On 15 Nov 202015 Nov 2020
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Ethiopians fleeing war in the northern Tigray region crossed a river into neighbouring Sudan – some in boats, some swimming, others wading through the water.

Um Rakuba camp in the Sudanese border town of Hamdayet is hosting 8,000 refugees. Built in the 1980s and closed in the 2000s, the camp was reopened on Friday with space for 20,000 people.

Several hundred arrived on Saturday with hundreds more crowded onto the rocky bank of the Tekeze River.

Refugees told stories of artillery attacks and shooting in the streets with fighting spilling over into Ethiopia’s Amhara state neighbouring Tigray.

“We are hungry and we’re afraid that they will kill us,” said an old woman, referring to government troops battling the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

She spoke moments after paying the owner of a small boat 30 Ethiopian biir ($0.80) to bring her across the river, while women and children were seen swimming across. Refugees said one person drowned while trying to cross the night before.

Sudanese officials were registering refugees.

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“People are hungry and the flow of refugees is continuing but we have little to offer,” said Salah Ramadan, head of the border town’s administration.

Mubarak Abdallah, a 28-year old Sudanese farmer, said food supplies in the local market were dwindling.

Hundreds of people have been killed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the national defence forces on an offensive against local troops in Tigray last week, accusing them of attacking federal troops.

Refugees from the Tigray region of Ethiopia wait to register at the UNCHR centre at Hamdayet, Sudan. [Marwan Ali/AP Photo]
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Ethiopia’s defiant Tigray regional government has fired rockets into Eritrea's capital, sparking fears of a wider war in the Horn of Africa. [Marwan Ali/AP Photo]
An Ethiopian woman who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region prepares a meal on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in eastern Kassala state. [El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters]
Refugees from Tigray, Ethiopia, arrive in Hamdayet, Sudan. Many are waiting to register at the UNCHR centre. [Marwan Ali/AP Photo]
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has warned of possible war crimes in Tigray, while aid workers fear the region faces a major humanitarian crisis. [Marwan Ali/AP Photo]
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled into Sudan with numbers continuing to grow, Sudanese officials say. [Marwan Ali/AP Photo]
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An Ethiopian woman who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray holds a child in Hamdayet on the Sudan-Ethiopia border. [El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters]
Um Rakuba camp, built in the 1980s and closed in the 2000s, was reopened on Friday with space for 20,000 people. [El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters]
Ethiopians prepare to cross the Setit River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdayet in Sudan's eastern Kassala state. [El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters]


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