WORLD BRIDGE BLOG

Some 25 kilometers inside Ethiopia’s border with Eritrea, the Shimelba Refugee Camp is home to more than 17,900 individuals who have fled from Eritrea for reasons that include religious persecution, fear of forced military conscription of males from age 18 to 40 that generally includes hard labor, and attempting to rejoin family left behind during the border conflict. The majority of camp residents are young males, many university educated and frustrated about the irreparable loss of the prime years of potential professional careers.

During Refugees International’s visit to Ethiopia in April 2008, one young refugee at Shimelba, who we’ll call Emmanuel, explained his situation: "I was born in Ethiopia, but was later deported to Eritrea in 1998 during the border conflict." Emmanuel recalled, "Officials came to our house, told me to fix my bag, and took me to prison. Later they moved us to Eritrea by car."

Emmanuel reported that he returned to Ethiopia five years ago. He said, "It is difficult to get nationality here. The Ethiopian government seems to give privilege for us to live in the country, but I don’t want to take any chances. They took our property before. How can we believe that they will give us nationality now? I fear for my life in Eritrea, but there is no democracy here either. The distance between the law and its implementation is like the distance between the sun and the moon. Nobody knows that distance or how to close it."

Emmanuel’s parents were born in the part of Ethiopia that is now Eritrea. They met and married in what is now Ethiopia, and that is where Emmanuel was born. "The Eritreans don’t consider my parents as Eritrean. They don’t consider me as Eritrean either, though I have an Eritrean identification card as a document. That’s why I came here as a refugee. Now I consider myself as a prisoner in this camp."

While thankful to be safely outside of Eritrea, Emmanuel explains that in addition to the general problems of refugee camp life such as insufficient food rations and health concerns like malaria, it is not easy to get out of the camp to carry out normal activities such as using the internet. First, a person must obtain a day pass, only 25 of which are issued every day. A bus to Shirraro, the nearest town, needs to be arranged and one must be able to cover the cost of bus fare and internet fees, which start at 15 Birr (US$ 1.56). He would like to continue his studies. "I have read the same physics textbook several times, but I would really like to study meteorology."

The situation for Emmanuel’s siblings is not any easier than it is for him. One of his sisters escaped to another neighboring country, where she also lives in a refugee camp, at least as far as he knows. "I have had no news from her in 5 years," Emmanuel says. "One of my other brothers was caught and imprisoned during his attempt to leave Eritrea. My youngest brother died trying to go to Sudan. There is no hope."