The UN fears that 200,000 people could flee the conflict in Ethiopia in six months

United Nations agencies are requesting funds to help more than 33,000 people fleeing violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, fearing that more than 200,000 could follow in six months, a UN spokesman said Friday. .

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that every day people arrive in neighboring Sudan from the conflict-affected northernmost region of Ethiopia.

The UN Refugee Agency estimated that up to 200,000 people could take refuge in eastern Sudan in the next six months if instability in Tigray continues, Dujarric said. While the number of internally displaced people is growing by the day, lack of access to those in need, along with the inability to transport relief supplies to the region, remain impediments to the delivery of aid.

Earlier this week, the global organization’s agencies set $ 75 million as needed to help displaced people and refugees through January.

Providing hot meals, high-energy cookies and food rations, the World Food Program (WFP) is also providing logistical support, establishing supply centers to store supplies and transporting humanitarian personnel to affected areas through its Humanitarian Air Service. of the UN (UNHAS), he said. .

WFP needs to increase the number of UNHAS flights and road repairs to allow first responders to reach remote and inaccessible areas where refugees are arriving, the spokesman said.

The UN Children’s Fund reports that around 45 percent of the refugees are children under the age of 18 and that since schools had already reopened in Ethiopia, their schooling has been disrupted, Dujarric said.