Define border to help solve humanitarian crisis, Eritrea refugees tell UN

ADI KESHI CAMP, Eritrea, Oct 15 (AFP) — When the UN special envoy for the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa arrived at Gerenfit camp in western Eritrea, near the border with Ethiopia, he was greeted by hoots of joy from the refugees who call it home.

Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, arrived at the camp on Thursday for a visit aimed at alerting the international community about the extent of the humanitarian crisis in Eritrea, said a UN statement.

Around 2.2 million people in Eritrea, or nearly 60 percent of the population of 3.8 million, will need food aid next year, according to the UN.

In 2004, 1.9 million Eritreans needed food aid.

Gerenfit camp’s 10,000 inhabitants are Eritreans expelled from Ethiopia during the 1998-2000 border war between the two Horn of Africa nations.

The camp consists of huts surrounded by farmland, which this year suffered from drought — again.

Old men with walking sticks, children and women draped in white shawls clustered around Ahtisaari, keenly observing him and his entourage, which included Eritrean government officials, diplomats from donor countries and officials from different UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.

“We sincerely appreciate your interest, but the solution is not humanitarian aid, but the demarcation of the border,” the deputy governor of the Gash Barka region, Tekie Keleta, told Ahtisaari.

“Humanitarian aid is, however, still important,” insisted Tekie, whose region was once considered the breadbasket of Eritrea, but which has been hard hit again by drought this year.

Despite the Eritrean-Ethiopian war having formally ended four years ago, the border has yet to be physically demarcated, despite an independent commission ruling on its path in 2003. Addis Ababa rejected the demarcation ruling, which was supposed to be legally binding on both sides.

After Gerenfit, Ahtisaari visited Adi Keshi Camp, where some 19,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) live in tents after being forced to leave their villages during the border war.

Unlike Gerenfit camp, the population here has no land to till and depends entirely on humanitarian aid. Many hope they will be able to return to their villages starting early next year.

“We thank the Eritrean government and the international community for their assistance, but there is nothing like home,” a bearded old man was overheard saying.

“We blame the international community for not forcing Ethiopia to respect the independent commission’s ruling,” the old man said to the visiting dignitaries.

Ahtisaari replied: “I will bring your grievances to the UN Secretary General.”

Then a procession of UN jeeps left the camp in a cloud of dust, bound for the town of Barentu, where a helicopter was waiting to fly them back to the capital, Asmara.

At the end of his Eritrean visit on Saturday, Ahtisaari will go to Ethiopia for a three-day mission.