The Ethiopian army has blocked one of the main roads leading to Sudan, preventing Ethiopians fleeing the war in Tigray from reaching the neighboring country, according to refugees who arrived at the Lugdi border post in eastern Sudan on Thursday (November 26th).
Read also: Ethiopia lifts the veil on the massacre, in Mai Kadra, of 600 civilians in a few hours
“
The Ethiopian army has cut the road leading to the Sudanese border at the locality of Humera (20 km from the border) and those who seek to reach Sudan must avoid the main road and pass through the fields without being see by the soldiers,
”said Tesfai Burhano, who had just arrived in Lugdi.
The number of Ethiopian refugee arrivals in Sudan has dropped significantly over the past week, according to figures from the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
On Wednesday, the UN agency recorded 718 arrivals, against 3,813 on November 21.
A Sudanese security official confirmed the drop, without giving an explanation.
According to the UNHCR, 42,651 refugees have arrived in Sudan since the start of the deadly conflict in Tigray, 70% of them via Hamdayit, in the Sudanese province of Kassala, the rest via that of Gedaref.
The Tigray region in northern Ethiopia has been the scene of bitter fighting since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation there on November 4, accusing officials of the Tigray People's Liberation Front of seeking destabilizing the federal government and attacking two Ethiopian military bases in the region, which the Tigray authorities deny.