By: Our staff writer
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia Today), May 6, 2023; More than 12,000 people have arrived in Ethiopia from Sudan via the border town of Metema in West Gondar Zone of Amhara Region since April 21, UN reveals.
According to a report by OCHA, more than 1,000 daily arrivals have been recorded over the past three weeks, with 1,113 people arriving at the border town on May 4.
Ethiopians accounted for more than 50 percent of the arrivals on Thursday, while other nationalities included Sudanese, Eritreans, Somalians, Americans, Syrians, Ghanaians, and others in descending numerical order, the report added.
“Most foreign nationals, after securing relevant visas, have left the border area and gone to either their respective countries or destinations or to settle in Ethiopia. Similarly, Ethiopian returnees are also moving to their places of origin within the country,” the report noted, adding that, “the majority of those who remain at the border, however, require emergency humanitarian assistance”.
Hot food, drinking water, latrines, emergency shelter, and adequate health and protection services are among the primary needs, according to the report.
“Currently, essential and life-saving drugs and medicines in health facilities are lacking. There are also limitations in referral services to hospitals and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) at border entry points,” the report said.
OCHA said scaling up health emergency interventions against identified needs is essential to avoid worsening the situation and preventing communicable and non-communicable diseases.
On April 29, the Addis Standard reported that Ethiopian refugees who fled the brutal war in Tigray in early November 2020 and are sheltered in two refugee camps in Tunaydbah and Um Rakuba in Eastern Sudan are “in danger” following the outbreak of militarized violence in Sudan on April 15 and aid workers’ evacuations.
Two days earlier, the Ethiopian embassy in Khartoum said that it had relocated its staff, including theambassador,r to its consulate office in the Gadaref region and has been assisting Ethiopian nationals trapped in Sudan from there.
