Humanitarian Crisis Grips Ethiopia's Restive Tigray Region
GENEVA - United Nations aid agencies report
Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is in a worsening humanitarian crisis, as
fighting intensifies and thousands continue to flee to neighboring countries.
Protection of Ethiopian civilians and Eritrean
refugees is a major concern, with human rights monitors warning the weeklong
fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigray regional security forces
could spin out of control.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says humanitarian
aid to more than 2 million people in the region has been disrupted. It says
security concerns are preventing food, health supplies and other relief from
being delivered.
Babar Baloch, a spokesman for UNHCR, the U.N. Refugee Agency, says the safety
of tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees who are living in camps near the
conflict zone is at risk.
"Meanwhile, services for 96,000 Eritrean refugees inside Tigray have been
seriously disrupted, with reports of growing numbers of Ethiopians themselves
becoming displaced internally,” Baloch said.
Aid agencies say general living and operating conditions inside Tigray are becoming more difficult. They report power outages and say food and fuel supplies are becoming increasingly scarce. In addition, communications have been cut off, creating an information blackout.
Baloch said growing insecurity and lack of humanitarian assistance are driving
an increasing number of people to flee across borders in search of safety. He
said more than 14,500 refugees, half of them children have arrived in Sudan. He
added that many more are on their way.
"People are arriving with very few belongings indicating they fled in a hurry.
Arriving children are exhausted and are scared.… UNHCR and our partners are
ramping up assistance, but the numbers of new arrivals are outpacing the
capacity on the ground,” he said.
Baloch said Sudanese authorities have approved establishment of a new refugee
camp to accommodate the growing number of new arrivals. He noted the camp,
which can host up to 20,000 people, is 80 kilometers from the border. He said
additional sites are being identified.
VOA
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