Africa-Press – Ethiopia. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS) has called on the international community today to provide support for thousands of asylum seekers that entered Ethiopia last month.
Due to conflict in Laas Caanod district of Somaliland, an increasing number of people have crossed the border into the Dollo zone of Ethiopia’s Somali region.
In a joint press briefing to journalists, officials of the agencies disclosed that close to 100,000 people have crossed the border into Ethiopia, which is a new record of asylum seekers that entered into Ethiopia from Somaliland.
Food, shelter, medical and other social support is urgent and the international community needs to fulfill these in order to reach the affected persons.
Speaking on the occasion, Refugees and Returnees Service Director- General Tesfahun Gobezay said the Government of Ethiopia, which has maintained its longstanding generosity to asylum seekers, is receiving the needy by keeping the humanitarian and civilian nature of the overall response.
According to him, the Refugees and Returnees Service and the United Nations Refugee Agency are coordinating with federal and regional government bodies, UN agencies, and other partners to respond to the needs of newly arrived asylum seekers.
Most of the asylum seekers are women, pregnant and lactating mothers as well as children, including unaccompanied and separated, the elderly, person with serious medical conditions and disabilities.
They face high protection risks and are in need of urgent assistance, the director-general stressed.
Many of the families have settled within the communities, in common buildings or in open areas, and the host communities have welcomed these families, sharing the little they have with them, in one of the areas hardest hit by the terrible drought affecting the Horn of Africa
UNCHR Ethiopia Representative, Mamadou Dian Balde said on his part that once again, the government and people of Ethiopia have shown tremendous generosity by keeping their door open for their Somaliland sisters and brothers in need of protection.
“We are doing all we can to help them and urgent international attention and support is now needed to respond to the rapidly growing needs,” he underlined.
While discussions are going to decide on the locations to establish settlement for those in need, Balde called for further support from the international community, partners and donors and other stakeholders to join efforts to help respond to the unfolding emergency in the Dollo zone.
The two organizations have rushed aid to thousands of asylum seekers in the Dollo zone, it was learned.
Ethiopia is the third largest refugee hosting country in Africa, generously sheltering more than 880,000 refugees, mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan.
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