Africa

January 1, 2021 (GADAREF) - The number of Ethiopian refugees in eastern Sudan has increased to nearly 61,000 people as a result of the renewal of clashes in the northern region of Tigray.

The UNHCR and Sudan refugees body (COR) in their latest bulletin several days ago said they have registered over 54,411 Ethiopian refugees in Kassala's Hamdayet centre, Ludgi and Abderafi centres of Gedaref, and Wad Al-Mahi centre of the Blue Nile state.

However, more refugees have arrived in Sudan following recent clashes in the Tigray region.

"The military clashes between the federal army and the Tigray People's Liberation Front have resumed since Tuesday," Sudanese officials told the Sudan Tribune on Thursday.

The Sudanese military intelligence arrested 45 TPLF fighters in Hamdayet reception centre and they were transferred to the army's headquarters, the sources further said.

The sources which are not authorized to speak to the press said renewed military clashes led to the influx of refugees, as the number reached about 61,000. Also, thousands of refugees are expected to cross into Sudan in the coming days.

A refugee told Sudan Tribune that they had travelled on foot from their areas through the cities of Birkuta and Moya Khadra before to reach, the Hamdayet Center.

In a related development, Amhara and Tigray refugees in Um Rakoba camp clashed as some refugees urged from the absence of Sudanese police in the camp. While others said that the aid workers have to avoid placing refugees from the two ethnic groups in the same camp.

UNFPA Sudan estimates that amongst the refugees there are over 13,500 of which more than1200 are pregnant, with around 130 live births expected in the coming month.

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January 1, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Egypt slammed statements by an Ethiopian government official for stating that Cairo has been seeking to hamper the construction of a giant dam on the Blue Nile to distract its people from internal problems

Dina Mufti, the former Ethiopian Ambassador to Egypt and Foreign Ministry Spokesman recently said that the Egyptian government uses the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam to divert the attention f its people from internal problems

On Wednesday 30 December, the Egyptian foreign ministry said that the Ethiopian chargé d'affaires had been summoned to explain Mufti's statements in which he touched on the Egyptian internal affairs.

Egypt "condemned these statements which are considered a blatant transgression," reads a statement released by the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ahmed Hafez on Thursday.

Hafez stressed that such an offence against his country is a continuation of the Ethiopian government's approach aiming to use a hostile tone and fuelling emotions to cover its "multiple failures domestically and externally".

He went further to speak to the ongoing internal troubles in the Tigray and Benishangul regions as well as the "constant tensions and instability in the Oromia region". Also, he referred to the ongoing border tensions with Sudan.

On 31 December, the head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan reacted to statements by the Spokesman of the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry who said that Sudanese army had carried out inside Ethiopia.

The Sudanese armed forces "have not and will not cross international borders or attack neighbouring Ethiopia," said al-Burhan.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have to resume meetings on the GERD in the upcoming days in a long process that has been continuing for nine years.

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