Filippo Grandi Calls on the World to Support Sudanese Refugees in Ethiopia
moatinoon
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, stated that the number of displaced people in Sudan due to the war has reached nearly 8 million, urging the international community to provide urgent and additional support to meet their needs.
This came at the conclusion of his three-day visit to Ethiopia, during which he met with Sudanese refugees and learned about the efforts made by the Ethiopian government, with the support of the UNHCR and its partners, to assist Sudanese refugees who recently arrived in the country.
This is the first visit by the highest UN official to a neighboring country of Sudan hosting Sudanese refugees. It follows another visit last week by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to South Sudan, which hosts the second-highest number of Sudanese refugees after Chad. During her visit, she toured Sudanese refugee camps and urged the world not to ignore the suffering of the Sudanese people.
In Assosa, the capital of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, adjacent to the Blue Nile and the Metemma area adjacent to the border of the states of Sennar and Gedaref, Grandi met with some refugees and asylum seekers at the Karmak transit center.
He said, "I heard heartbreaking stories of the tragic loss of family, friends, homes, and livelihoods. But amid this despair, I also saw the refugees determination to move forward if they receive support and opportunity."
The number of refugees at the Karmak transit center exceeds 20,000 people. Since April 2023, more than 100,000 people have crossed into Ethiopia from Sudan, including nearly 47,000 refugees and asylum seekers. These join around 50,000 Sudanese refugees already present in the country.
Grandi expressed appreciation for the government and local communities for allocating land and welcoming those forced to flee despite the challenges they face, including hosting a large number of refugees.
He said, "Ethiopias continued generosity towards the displaced, including those who recently arrived from Sudan, deserves praise and should be met with greater support from the international community." Grandi added, "Without more support from donors, it will be extremely challenging to provide the much-needed assistance to those in dire need."
Ethiopia is one of the six neighboring countries still receiving thousands of people fleeing Sudan. Last week, the number of new arrivals in Chad exceeded 500,000 since April, and in South Sudan, an average of 1,500 people cross into the country daily.
Newly arrived Sudanese refugees are being relocated away from border areas to new camps. The government, the UNHCR, and other partners are working to develop camps that support the integration of refugees into national systems. Services such as education, health, and access to clean water will be enhanced, benefiting both host communities and refugee communities.
Ethiopia hosts one of the largest concentrations of refugees and internally displaced persons globally. As the third-largest host country for refugees in Africa, it is currently home to about one million refugees—mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan—while approximately 3.5 million Ethiopians are internally displaced.
