Tigrinya refugees in Sudan in early December 2020. In Ethiopiaâs ongoing Tigray conflict, Eritrean refugees are especially at risk. The international community must pay attention. In early November, violent conflict erupted between Ethiopia’s central government and the regional government of Tigray. By mid-December, some 50,000 people had fled to Sudan. Their reports tell us about civilians suffering a humanitarian disaster in Tigray. The scenario is largely non-transparent. According to estimates, about 1 million people have been displaced domestically. The setting remains explosive, and the historical background is complicated. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which runs the regional government, was one of the strongest forces in the Civil War that ended in 1991 with the downfall of Mengistu Haile Mariam, a military dictator. At that point, Eritrea became an independent country and has since been ruled with an iron fist by President Isayas Afewerki. In Ethiopia, a TPLF-led alliance took power and – with increasingly authoritarian tendencies – stayed in control until 2018.