written by Aljazeera

Gov’t says it is now safe to bring back refugees who fled monthlong fighting to the northern region’s camps but the UN calls the move ‘absolutely unacceptable’.

Ethiopia’s government has said it is returning Eritrean refugees to camps in the northern Tigray region, a move criticised by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) as “absolutely unacceptable”.

In a statement on Friday asserting that the fighting in Tigray is over, the Ethiopian government said its military offensive against the now-fugitive regional government “was not a direct threat” to the nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees registered in Ethiopia – even as international aid groups said four of their staffers had been killed, at least one in a refugee camp in Tigray, which borders Eritrea.

The refugees are being taken from the capital, Addis Ababa, back to two camps they had fled from during the five weeks of fighting between federal troops and forces loyal to Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) because it is now safe and stable in Tigray, the statement said.

“A large number of misinformed refugees are moving out in an irregular manner,” it added. “The government is safely returning those refugees to their respective camps”, adding that “transportation of food to the camps is under way”.