(Xinhua) — The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Friday disclosed an urgent need of resources to respond to its emergency needs across Ethiopia.
The UNHCR said in a statement that it is currently rushing together with its partners to provide life-saving aid to more than 20,000 refugees who fled clashes in Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region, bordering Sudan and South Sudan.
The UNHCR said fighting broke out in late January in the town of Tongo, reportedly between unidentified armed groups and federal forces, and the nearby camp hosting 10,300 refugees was looted and burned.
The incident followed the looting of another camp in the area in late December. A total of 22,000 people in both camps were then cut off from access and assistance, it said.
“UNHCR’s Ethiopia operation has to date only received 9 percent of the countrywide requirements of 335 million U.S. dollars for the year (2022) and is in urgent need of resources to respond to this and other emergency needs,” the UN refugee agency said in the statement.
The UNHCR said all humanitarian staff had to evacuate and access to the area including the two camps of Tongo and Gure-Shembola remains impossible.
“Since December last year the situation has been very tense in the Benishangul Gumuz region, which hosts more than 70,000 Sudanese and South Sudanese refugees and over 500,000 internally displaced Ethiopians,” the UNHCR said.
It said after the violence erupted, more than 20,000 refugees made their way over long distances to three different sites closer to Assosa, the regional capital of Benishangul Gumuz, arriving exhausted and in need of assistance.
UNHCR is working with the Ethiopian government’s Refugee and Returnees Service (RRS) and partners to provide the most urgent assistance to the displaced refugees, including hot meals, clean water and medical care.
The UN refugee agency said it is presently working to install basic services including shelter, water points, and latrines and to begin relocating refugees to the site as soon as possible.
With the fighting continuing, UNHCR said a cessation of conflict is essential to avoid further threats to civilian lives in the region, urging for the protection of civilians, including refugees and those forcibly displaced. “Tragically, refugees who had sought and enjoyed safety and were rebuilding their lives have now lost everything all over again,” it said. Enditem
