A time lapse shows the WFP building being destroyed in Shimelba camp.
Satellite images show the destruction of United Nations facilities, a health care unit, a high school and houses in two camps hosting Eritrean refugees in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, contradict the government’s claim that the conflict in the dissident region is largely over.
The eight Planet Labs Inc’s images are of Hitsats and the Shimelba camps. According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the camps received approximately 25,000 and 8,000 refugees respectively before conflict broke out in the region two months ago.
Smoke from fires in the Hitsats camp.
“Recent satellite images indicate that structures in both camps have been deliberately targeted,” said Isaac Baker, an analyst with DX Open Network, a UK-based nonprofit research and analysis of human security. “The systematic and widespread fires are consistent with a deliberate campaign to deny use of the camp.”
DX Open Network has been monitoring the conflict and analyzing satellite image data since November 7, three days after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared war on a dissident group in the Tigray region that dominated Ethiopian politics before Abiy came to power.
The Ethiopian government announced its victory against the dissidents on November 28 after federal troops captured the regional capital of Mekelle. At the time, Abiy spoke of the need to rebuild and bring back the norm in Tigray.
Calls and messages to Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the government’s emergency task force in Tigray, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum, were not answered.
In Shimelba, images show the scorched earth after apparent attacks in January. According to DX Open Network’s analysis, a World Food Program storage facility and a Development and Inter-Aid Church Commission high school have also been burned down. In addition, between January 5 and January 8, a health facility was also attacked by the Ethiopian Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs, located next to the WFP compound.
In the Hitsats camp, about 18 miles away, there were at least 14 actively burning buildings and 55 others were damaged or destroyed on January 5. On January 8 there were new fires, according to DX Open Network’s analysis.
According to Chris Melzer, an agency communications officer, the UN refugee agency has not had access to the camps since the fighting began in early November. UNHCR has been able to reach its two other camps, Mai-Aini and Adi Harush, which are to the south, he said.
“We also do not have reliable first-hand information about the situation in the camps or the welfare of the refugees,” Melzer said of Hitsats and Shimelba.
Eritrean troops have also been involved in the fighting and are accused of looting businesses and kidnapping refugees, aid workers and diplomats have been briefed on the situation. The governments of both Ethiopia and Eritrea have denied that Eritrean forces are involved in the conflict.
The UN says Fighting continues in various Tigray areas and 2.2 million people have been displaced in the past two months. Access to the region for journalists and independent analysts remains limited, making it difficult to verify events.
(Updates with Tigray history in fourth paragraph)