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ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Refugee Agency, said Thursday that the number of Ethiopian refugees fleeing to neighboring Sudan exceeded 31,000 in amid ongoing clashes between the Ethiopian federal government. and the Northern Tigray Regional State.
“As of today morning, more than 31,000 refugees have fled Ethiopia’s Tigray region to seek safety in Sudan,” UNHCR said Thursday.
“UNHCR and its partners are doing their best to address immediate needs, but they need urgent support in order to support the (Sudanese) government in handling the situation,” he added.
Ethiopia has already established a committee to address humanitarian concern in the restless northern regional state of Tigray, Redwan Hussein, spokesman for a recently established Task Force on the State of Emergency for the Tigray conflict, said on Monday.
Since the early morning of November 4, the Ethiopian government has been conducting military operations against the TPLF, which rules Ethiopia’s northernmost regional state of Tigray.
The federal government operation followed the TPLF attack on the northern command base of the Ethiopian Defense Force, a division stationed in the region for more than two decades and based in the city of Mekelle, the capital of the region of Tigray.
Amid ongoing fighting, UNHCR had warned that a large-scale humanitarian crisis is unfolding as thousands of refugees flee each day amid the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to seek safety in Sudan.
A statement by the UN refugee agency, quoting UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch, said that women, men and children have been crossing the border at a rate of 4,000 a day since November 10, rapidly overwhelming the humanitarian response capacity on the ground.
UNHCR is currently supporting the Sudanese government in its response, increasing humanitarian assistance at the borders as needs continue to grow.
The World Food Program (WFP) is also providing high-protein foods and biscuits. Muslim Aid provides hot meals.
“There is a critical need to identify more sites so that refugees can be relocated outside the border and can access assistance and services,” the agency said.
UNHCR and its partners are now on standby to provide assistance to the displaced in Tigray, including basic items, when access and security allow.
In addition to Ethiopians fleeing to Sudan, as well as internally displaced persons, UNHCR also warned that the ongoing conflict is also a major concern for the Eritrean refugee population of nearly 100,000 in Tigray, who depend on assistance from UNHCR and its partners. partners.
The Ethiopian government had announced on Wednesday the capture of strategic areas by TPLF fighters in different directions in the restless regional state of Tigray.
“The Ethiopian National Defense Forces have recorded crucial victories in different cities and areas on the western and eastern fronts,” the state of emergency task force, established by the federal government to monitor ongoing military operations, said in a statement. against the TPLF. .
The Ethiopian government also revealed that its forces are now on their way to the regional capital, Mekelle, where many believe prominent TPLF leaders are currently located.
According to the statement, on the eastern front, the Ethiopian National Defense Forces have controlled Raya, while on the western front they have captured Shire and are currently heading for Axum, one of the historic cities attributed by UNESCO to Ethiopia.
Growing disputes between the federal government and the TPLF were exacerbated in September this year, when the Tigray regional government decided to go ahead with its planned regional elections, which the Ethiopian parliament had previously postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. . Final product
