Reports from Tigrayan refugees in Djibouti (Source: ModernDiplomacy)

Recent reports from Tigrayan refugees in Djibouti raise serious concerns about the Eritrean regime’s actions towards the Kunama. These firsthand accounts expose a campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide, a violation of international law with devastating consequences. Refugees fleeing the violence have painted a disturbing picture of systematic targeting and violence directed at the Kunama by Eritrean forces. The Kunama have faced a relentless campaign of human rights abuses, violence, displacement, and fear at the hands of Eritrean soldiers. This article explores the plight of the Kunama people and the urgent need for international action.

Eritrean Claims and Intentions

Eritrean military commanders have been disturbingly open about their intentions regarding the Kunama people residing in Tigray. A Tigrayan refugee in Djibouti recounted a chilling statement made by Eritrean commanders in January 2021: ” ‘The land now inhabited by the Kunama and Irob ethnic groups but administered under Tigray belongs to Eritrea; so we will take it to Eritrea soon,’ “ These pronouncements by Eritrean military commanders regarding the Kunama and Irob people, a long-established ethnic group residing in Tigray, raise chilling possibilities of ethnic cleansing and expose a fundamental disregard for international law protecting minority rights. To claim, as the Eritrean commanders have done, that the Kunama and the Irob are merely temporary residents with no legitimate claim to the territory, is a blatant distortion of historical reality. Referring to the area as “administered under Tigray” downplays the Kunama’s and Irob’s long-standing presence and effectively erases their deep connection to the region. This dismissive language serves as a smokescreen, laying the groundwork for a dangerous narrative with potentially devastating consequences.

The Specter of Ethnic Land Grab

The most unsettling aspect of the Eritrean commanders’ statement lies not just in its disregard for history but in the underlying motivation it reveals. By emphasizing the ethnicity of the inhabitants, they justify a land grab based on a dubious claim of shared ancestry with Eritrea. This not-so-subtle claim poses an existential threat to the Kunama and Irob people. Should Eritrea attempt to forcibly annex the Kunama’s and the Irob’s homeland based on ethnicity, it would trigger a domino effect of displacement and violence. The Kunama and the Irob people would be uprooted from their ancestral lands, their way of life shattered. Imagine the trauma inflicted upon families who have lived on the same soil for generations, only to be forced to abandon their homes and cultural heritage at the whims of an aggressive government.
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