A time lapse shows that the WFP building was destroyed in the Shimelba camp.
Satellite images show the destruction of United Nations facilities, a health unit, a high school and homes in two Eritrean refugee camps in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, advise the government that the conflict in the dissident region is over largely.
The eight Images from Planet Labs Inc are from Hitsats and Shimelba Camps. The camps hosted about 25,000 and 8,000 refugees respectively before a conflict erupted in the region two months ago, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Smoke from the fires in the Hitsats camp.
“Recent satellite images indicate that the structures of the two camps are being intentional targets,” said Isaac Baker, an analyst at DX Open Network, a UK-based nonprofit human security research and analysis. “Systematic and widespread fires are consistent with an intentional campaign to deny use of the field.”
DX Open Network has been tracking the conflict and analyzing satellite imagery 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.
The Ethiopian government announced victory against dissidents on November 28 after federal forces captured the regional capital of Mekelle. Abiy spoke of the need to rebuild and return normalcy to Tigray at that time.
Calls and messages to Redwan Hussein, a spokesman for the government’s emergency working group in Tigray, and a spokesman for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Billene Seyoum, went unanswered.
In Shimelba, images show land burned by apparent attacks in January. According to the DX Open Network analysis, a World Food Program storage facility and a high school run by the Church’s Commission on Development and Inter Aid have also been burned. In addition, a health center run by the Ethiopian Agency for Refugee and Retirement Affairs located next to the WFP site was attacked between 5 and 8 January.
At Hitsats camp, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) away, there were at least 14 actively burning structures and 55 others were damaged or destroyed on 5 January. According to DX Open Network analysis, there were new fires on January 8th.
The UN refugee agency has not had access to the camps since the fighting began in early November, according to Chris Melzer, a communications agent for the agency. UNHCR has been able to reach its other two camps, Mai-Aini and Adi Harush, which are in the south, he said.
“We also do not have reliable first-hand information on the situation of the camps or the welfare of the refugees,” Melzer said in reference to Hitsats and Shimelba.
Eritrean troops have also taken part in the fighting and are accused of looting companies and kidnapping refugees, humanitarian workers and diplomats report on the situation. The governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea have denied that Eritrean troops are involved in the conflict.
Says the UN there are still fighting in various areas of the Tigray and 2.2 million people have been displaced in the last two months. Access to the region for independent journalists and analysts remains limited, making it difficult to verify events.
(Updates to Tigray’s history in the fourth paragraph)