I want to thank the House of Commons for this opportunity.
My name is Tesfaye Hussein. I am joining from Sudan, where I work as a program director with CARE International, which has funding from the Government of Canada. We're able to help people in need.
I will be focusing on the humanitarian need of the people who fled to Sudan and their prospects of returning to where they come from.
Currently there are more than 60,000 refugees in east Sudan who fled the conflict in Tigray and who are in direct humanitarian need. As you may know, currently Sudan is going through a very rough economic crisis. More than 25% of its population are in need of humanitarian assistance. Therefore, the government and the environment cannot support an additional crisis.
However, we have more than 60,000 Ethiopian refugees in the country. There is urgent need for humanitarian assistance. Most of the refugees saw many atrocities when they fled for their lives from the war, and they have told me so many horrific stories.
Initially, when they came, they wanted to stay close to the border because they thought the conflict was going to be over in a very short period of time, and they wanted to go back and resume their lives. However, as time goes by, their prospects of going back have diminished significantly. Most of them are thinking they will stay much longer, because the situation on the ground is not getting better, for multiple reasons.
There are reports of the presence of Eritrean troops on the ground—which I haven't confirmed—and there are also tribal or ethnic issues. For example, for the refugees who came from the western part of Tigray, that part of the country is now claimed to be part of the Amhara region. Therefore, they are not sure that they can go back. If Amhara is saying “this is our land”, will they be welcome?
However, the crisis in Tigray and the killings in other parts of the country have been in the making for a very long time, for people who paid attention to Ethiopia. We have a very polarized environment. Everyone seems to have his or her own knowledge of the story. There is no common narrative to help us resolve our problems.
For example, some people think the crisis in Tigray is just for Tigrayans, not for Ethiopians. There is an “us versus them” mentality almost everywhere. In the Oromia region, people are killed because they are from a different tribe. Just two days ago we had an opposition political leader killed in one of the towns in the Oromia region because he holds a different opinion.
We have so many layers of problems that have led us to this crisis, and I'm not sure there is an easy way out.
Therefore, I request the Government of Canada to work with the Ethiopian government and the people in power and to pressure them to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
Thank you.