United Nations: Joint Action To Shelter Ethiopians Fleeing Fighting To Sudan

Khartoum (SUNA) -The United Nations has confirmed the registration of more than 7000 Ethiopians, most of them women and children, who fled into the Sudanese borders after the first two days of the start of the fighting in the Ethiopian Tigray region which is bordering the Kassala and Gedaref in eastern Sudan.

The High Commission for Refugees said that it is currently working with the Sudanese authorities to provide rescue aid for the fleeing Ethiopians.

 The United Nations stated in a statement that the fleeing Ethiopian women, children and men who arrive in Sudan are seeking safety after a week of fighting between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray regional government forces.

 The United Nations statement indicated that upon arrival to the Sudanese territories, the arriving refugees are temporarily sheltered in transit centers near the border entry points at Lodgi in Gedaref State and Hamidiya in Kassala State, where they are provided with drinking water and food, while the Sudanese High Commissioner for Refugees and local authorities, in joint teams, conduct examination and registration of the arrivals.

 As more refugees are expected to arrive, the director of the UNHCR’s regional office, Clementine Nkuita Salami, urged the governments of the neighboring to keep their borders open for the people who have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the fighting in Ethiopia.

 The United Nations says that with the arrival of thousands of refugees at the Sudanese border within 24 hours, and the escalation of the conflict, the number of Ethiopian people fleeing and arriving in Sudan is likely to increase sharply, a matter which requires a great mobilization of resources to meet the needs of those who are coming.

 Sudan has dispatched the Minister of Interior and senior UNHCR officials to Gedaref and Kassala States to study the situation on the ground and to take the necessary and quick measures to provide temporary shelters for the arriving Ethiopians and to prepare stable camps equipped with basic services to host the refugees in accordance with UN procedures in this regard.

 The United Nations indicated that within Ethiopia itself and near the fighting areas, there are currently more than 96,000 Eritrean refugees living in the four refugee camps, expressing its concern about their situation and the conditions of the host communities that live next to them, in addition to the situation of around 100,000 people in Tigray who have become displaced as a result of the fighting.

 The United Nations indicated that although the camps are not in the immediate conflict zone, but the UNHCR remains concerned about the safety of the refugees and humanitarian workers due to the camps’ relative proximity to the fighting area and the deteriorating situation.

 The United Nations warned that with the closure of roads and the absence of electricity, communications and the Internet, the communication becomes almost impossible with a shortage of fuel, and the suspension of banking services, which led to a lack in cash, adding that all these factors refer to the influx of more refugees if the conflict does not stop.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed, said in a tweet on his Twitter account, upon outbreak of the fighting and when some neighboring countries expressed their fears that Ethiopia would slide into chaos, that perhaps it is due to their lack of awareness of the nature of the Ethiopian method in dealing with such situations, stressing that what is happening is the law enforcement In a “sovereign state that has the ability to manage its internal affairs, and that the issue will end soon and there will be no impunity for the outlaws.

He added that the goal of the military operations is to maintain the rule of law, and thus to ensure final peace and stability and bringing those who instigate instability to justice.