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There were almost 96,000 refugees from #Eritrea in #Ethiopia's #Tigray region before the conflict started. Aid access to 2 camps has been restored, but UNHCR remains unable to access Hitsats & Shimelba, which together were home to 34,000 Eritrean refugees.
Hitsats & Shimelba camps have now been without access to basic supplies - food, fuel for generators, medicines - for almost 2 months. Further, satellite imagery suggests that fields of crops around Hitsats have been burned: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/world/africa/Ethiopia-Eritrea-Tigray.html
UN & other international officials have raised alarm with reports of attacks and abductions in the refugee camps, and while PM Abiy has denied the presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray, US officials call the reports credible and a "grave development."
The EU has issued several statements of concern on the continued problem of access to parts of Tigray, and on Dec 25 noted that "ongoing reports of non-Ethiopian involvement raise additional worries," presumably a reference to reported Eritrean actions. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/12/25/ethiopia-declaration-by-the-high-representative-on-behalf-of-the-european-union/#
It is noteworthy, though, that UN and other officials continue to tiptoe around the Eritrea allegations - by some accounts out of concern that they might rile the Ethiopian government and endanger broader humanitarian access objectives.
Aid agencies are trying to regain access in Tigray, not only to the 950,000 people who were in need of aid before the fighting began, but to an additional 1.3 million that are now estimated to need aid as a result of the conflict. https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-tigray-region-humanitarian-update-situation-report-28-december-2020
Int'l donors have provided >$700 million in humanitarian aid to Ethiopia in 2020 - roughly half of the UN-estimated funding requirements (the GoE has provided almost $200M). The US has provided $470M.
The Tigray conflict creates new needs. https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-overview-funding-towards-humanitarian-response-plan-22-december-2020
The Tigray conflict creates new needs. https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-overview-funding-towards-humanitarian-response-plan-22-december-2020
In addition to the increased needs within Tigray, the refugee exodus to Sudan creates additional aid needs - estimated at over $150M in the first half of 2021. https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/unhcr-and-partners-urgently-seek-us156-million-support-refugees-fleeing-ethiopia-s
