Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of an escalation of border clashes between Eritrea and Ethiopia on refugees in that region.

We are concerned over recent reports of fighting between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces along the border near Tsorena. My colleague the Minister for Africa, Mr Duddridge, has called on both countries to exercise restraint and said that they should engage in meaningful political discourse to seek a resolution to the ongoing border issues.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed to DFID that the recent border clashes between Eritrea and Ethiopia have had no discernible impact on refugees in the border region. Services for refugees in the camps in Tigray region (which borders Eritrea) have not been disrupted by the clashes.

Refugees have continued to cross from Eritrea to Ethiopia at a rate of around 2,000-3,000 per month in 2016 and there has been no change to this pattern.

According to its global policy, UNHCR sites refugee camps ‘at a reasonable distance’ from international borders. The closest refugee camp to the Eritrean border is around 25 km away. Others are further away from the border.