Tigray residents flee to Sudan amid violence

The United Nations and others have warned of a looming humanitarian disaster following an escalation in fighting in northern Ethiopia between Tigray forces and the federal government.

Communications and transport links with the Tigray region remain almost completely severed, and millions are at risk as food, fuel and other supplies run low.

Some 25,000 Ethiopian refugees have fled the Tigray region into neighbouring Sudan, amid reports that Ethiopia’s rebellious Tigray region has confirmed firing missiles at neighboring Eritrea’s capital and is threatening more.

Over the border, the refugees - roughly half of them children - huddled in makeshift tents of sheets, even umbrellas, as authorities rushed to organise assistance in the remote area and more arrivals were on the way.

“The situation is very bad to put it mildly,” Jens Hesemann with the UN refugee agency said in Hamdayet town, which he described as a generous but "very burdened" community.

Most have crossed at Hamdayet border point in Kassala State, with very little belongings and some described being under attack even as they fled.

A transit centre at the Hamdayet border has been overwhelmed, with sanitation facilities designed for 300, now being used by thousands.

The WFP, The Sudanese Red Cross, Muslim Aid are providing assistance, "but much more needs to be done," Hesemann said.

A report that scores, perhaps hundreds, of civilians have been killed has sent already dangerous tensions soaring.

Amnesty International confirmed the killings via images and witnesses, and the United Nations warns of possible war crimes.

Most of the dead were ethnic Amharas, according to a man who helped clear the bodies away and looked at identity cards.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is blaming the massacre on forces loyal to the Tigray region’s government, which his administration regards as illegal after a months-long falling-out.

The federal government seeks to arrest and replace its leaders.

(Image Credit: AP)