BASINGA, Sudan — Dragged into a conflict not of their
making, members of Ethiopia's Qemant ethnic group say their only choice was
fleeing to Sudan — marking another bleak turn in a widening war.
اضافة اعلان
"Houses were burned, and people killed by
machetes," said refugee Emebet Demoz, who, like thousands of others, ran
from her village last month. "We couldn't even take the bodies and bury
them."
Thousands have been killed since fighting erupted in
November in Ethiopia's northernmost Tigray region, when Prime Minister Abiy
Ahmed sent in troops to topple the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) ,
the regional ruling party, saying the move came in response to TPLF attacks on
army camps.
The violence has since sucked in other groups in bitter
battles over land, and has spread from Tigray into Ethiopia's neighboring
Amhara region, homeland of both the Amhara people and the ethnic minority
Qemant.
Amhara fighters supported Abiy's forces, in an attempt to
settle a decades-long dispute over territory they claim was seized by the TPLF
during its nearly three-decade rule before Abiy took power in 2018.
The Qemant have long chafed under the cultural and economic
influence of the dominant Amhara people, and in recent years have called for
self-rule.
A 2017 referendum on the question of creating a Qemant
autonomous zone ended in rancor, with the resulting territorial dispute
sparking increasingly frequent clashes between the two groups.
"The Amhara fighters backed by the government wanted us
off our land," 20-year-old Emebet said. "They are killing us because
we're an ethnic minority."
'Refused to take sides'
But Amhara regional spokesperson Gizachew Muluneh squarely
denied that members of the Qemant ethnic group were being targeted.
Amhara leaders say the Qemant's quest for self-rule has
largely been stoked by Tigrayan rebels, who they allege are fighting a proxy
war by backing the group.
Gizachew told AFP that those described as refugees were
"pro-terrorist TPLF, and they are created by TPLF for the purpose of
distracting Ethiopia and Amhara".
The United Nations estimates that some 200,000 people have
been displaced from their homes in Amhara, where the violence is driving a
wedge deeper between the ethnic groups.
"The Amharas wanted us to pick their side in the
conflict against the Tigrayans," said refugee Balata Goshi. "We
refused to take sides, so they fought us."
Clashes between the Amhara and Qemant forced thousands to
flee in April this year, according to the UN's humanitarian agency.
Qemant campaigners claim that their historic homeland
includes villages bordering
Sudan.
But that has also led to accusations that the Qemant have
received support from Sudan, which has territorial issues with
Ethiopia, mostly
in areas located near the Amhara region.
Relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa have also soured
over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, which downstream
Egypt and Sudan fear threatens the water they depend on.
For civilians like Emebet stuck in the middle, the violence
left her no option but to leave.
She is part of a stream of some 3,000 Qemant refugees who
have crossed into Sudan in recent weeks, Sudanese officials said.
"We are expecting more Qemantis to arrive, as well
other ethnicities," said Mohamed Abdelkareem, from Sudan's refugee commission.
Sudan already hosts more than 60,000 refugees from Ethiopia,
according to the UN, putting heavy pressure on a country already struggling
with its own acute economic crisis.
Emebet has found shelter in the Sudanese border town of
Basinga, cramped inside a school converted into a makeshift camp, now a
temporary home for a thousand refugees.
There are basic food supplies, but she is sleeping under
plastic sheeting that offers little shelter from either sweltering heat or
heavy rains.
"We are safe here at least," she said.
'Can't go back'
Refugees said they are victims of long-running ethnic
strife.
"Tensions had already been rising for years," said
Aman Farada, a 26-year-old refugee from Ethiopia's northern city of Gondar.
"Initially, it was inter-ethnic disputes, but now it's
the government fighting us."
Kasaw Abayi believes the Amharas used the Tigray conflict as
"an excuse" to expand their control over other land.
"They see the entire area as theirs, so they want
neither us (Qemant) nor the Tigrayans there," said the 50-year-old
builder.
Early in the fighting, Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace
Prize, declared victory after his forces seized Tigray's regional capital
Mekele.
But in June, the TPLF recaptured much of Tigray, including
Mekele, and pushed east and south into the Amhara and Afar regions.
The UN says the conflict has driven 400,000 people into
famine-like conditions. Fighting continues.
Qemant refugees say they see little chance of returning to
Ethiopia any time soon.
"We can't go back," said Emebet. "How can we
return when this government is still in place?"
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