In a timely manner, the WFP building in Shimelba camp is seen being destroyed.
Satellite imagery shows the destruction of The United Nations facilities, a health care unit, a high school and houses in two camps sheltering Eritrean refugees in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, the government has claimed the conflict in the dissident region is largely over.
The eight Planet Labs Inc’s images are from Hitsats and the Shimelba camps. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 25,000 and 8,000 refugees were housed, respectively, before a conflict broke out in the region two months ago.
Smoke from fires at the Hitsats camp.
“Recent satellite images indicate that structures in both camps are being deliberately targeted,” said Isaac Baker, an analyst at DX Open Network, a non-profit human rights research and analysis in the UK. “The systematic and widespread fires are part of a deliberate campaign to deny the use of the camp.”
DX Open Network has been following 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, which dominated Ethiopian politics before Abiy came to power.
Ethiopia’s government announced victory over the dissidents on November 28 after federal forces captured the regional capital, Mekelle. Abiy spoke of the need to be normal to Tigray at the time.
Calls and messages to Redwan Hussein, spokeswoman for the government’s emergency task force on Tigray, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum were not answered.
In Shimelba, images show scorched earth of apparent attacks in January. According to the analysis of DX Open Network, a storage facility for the World Food Program and a high school run by the Commission for Development and Intercommunication Churches have been burnt down. In addition, a health facility run by the Ethiopian Refugee and Returns Agency next to the WFP complex was also attacked between 5 January and 8 January.
In the Hitsats camp, about 30 kilometers away, there were at least 14 actively burning structures and 55 others were damaged or destroyed by 5 January. According to DX Open Network’s analysis, there were new fires on January 8th.
According to Chris Melzer, a communications officer for the agency, the UN refugee agency has not had access to the camps since the fighting began in early November. UNHCR was able to reach its two other camps, Mai-Aini and Adi Harush, in the south, he said.
“We also have no reliable, first-hand information about the situation in the camps or the well-being of the refugees,” Melzer said, referring to Hitsats and Shimelba.
Eritrean troops were also involved in the fighting and are accused of looting businesses and kidnapping refugees, according to aid workers and diplomats briefed on the situation. The governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea have denied that Eritrean troops are involved in the conflict.
The UN says fighting continues in several Tigray areas and 2.2 million people have been displaced in the past two months. Access to the region for journalists and independent analysts is still limited, making it difficult to verify events.
(Updates to Tigray history in fourth paragraph)