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ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Refugee Agency, revealed on Tuesday that nearly 46,000 Ethiopian citizens fled to neighboring Sudan amid fighting in several weeks between the Ethiopian federal government. government and an insurgent regional government of North Tigray.
“In Sudan, Ethiopian refugees continue to arrive by the hundreds. Almost 46,000 have arrived since the beginning of November,” said a statement from the UN refugee agency, quoting UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch.
The Ethiopian government had announced over the weekend the “total command” of the regional state capital of Tigray, Mekelle, which marked the end of military operations.
As no more than 2,500 were registered since Friday alone, UNHCR reiterated the UN joint call that it is urgent that all parties allow the free and safe movement of affected people in search of safety and assistance, including across borders. international and national.
“We ask that the right to request asylum be fully respected,” the statement read.
UNHCR and its partners had launched a humanitarian response plan over the weekend that planned to help the growing number of refugees in eastern Sudan.
The plan brings together 30 humanitarian partners working together with the government to provide urgent life-saving assistance, including shelter, water and food at a cost of US $ 147 million.
The financial requirement is said to cover the needs of up to 100,000 refugees over the next six months, it was noted.
Meanwhile, UNHCR is also asking the Ethiopian federal authorities for urgent access in order to reach Eritrean refugees in the Tigray region who “desperately need humanitarian assistance and services”.
None of the “worries are growing by the hour,” UNHCR also said that refugee camps “will now have run out of food, making hunger and malnutrition a real danger, a warning we have been issuing since that the conflict started almost a month ago.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that “now we have the critical task of rebuilding what has been destroyed, repairing what is damaged, returning those who have fled, with the highest priority of restoring normalcy to life. people from the Tigray region. ” Final product
