The number of Eritrean soldiers who fled to Ethiopia tops 10,000

By Tesfa-alem Tekle

June27, 2008 (MEKELLE, Ethiopia) — The number of Eritrean soldiers who crossed the borders to Ethiopia and currently being sheltered in Ethiopian camps reach 10,500.Admnstration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) said

“Currently a total of 31,500 Eritreans are being sheltered in Ethiopian camps among whom 10,500 of them are Eritrean soldiers” statement said.

Every day a number of Eritrean soldiers flee to Ethiopian borders in protest to killings, detention and harsh treatment they face back at home.

“The flee soldiers who include higher military officials are under necessary treatment” it said.

Meanwhile three new camps which are built to accommodate increasing influx of Eritreans have gone operational.

Accordingly the new camps built at Tigray and Afar regions have sheltered 5514 Eritreans in a start move.

According to ARRA, the influx of Eritreans to Ethiopia has seen a 25%
Increase to that of last year’s and the Eritreans now in camps belong to eight of the the total 9 ethnic groups the nation embraces.

Over the past few years, thousands of Eritreans have been resettled to different western nations with the help of Ethiopian government and international organizations.

Eritrea, a young nation in Africa, with only 4.5 million population is believed to have 250 thousand soldiers, a relative top military build-up in Africa.

(ST)