De fleste er børn, som ofte ankommer alene til Gambela i det vestlige Etiopien. Akut sundheds- og fødevarehjælp er sat i værk ved syv grænseovergange, men nødhjælpsorganisationer forventer mange nye flygtninge, som vil være ved endnu dårligere helbred.
GAMBELA, 25 March 2014 (IRIN): With around 1,000 South Sudanese refugees streaming into the Gambela Region of western Ethiopia every week, relief workers and agencies warn of an imminent humanitarian crisis as camps reach capacity and assistance is increasingly stretched.
Since the civil began in mid-December last year, 69,456 South Sudanese refugees have entered Ethiopia’s Gambela Region.
Forventer 140.000 nye flygtninge
Two thirds of the arrivals have been children, many of whom are unaccompanied, according to a March inter-agency report on South Sudanese refugees coordinated by UNHCR. The report anticipates that 140,000 refugees will enter Ethiopia in the coming months.
“They are arriving on foot, over difficult and remote terrain, in a deteriorating nutritional status, and are traumatized and exhausted by travel and continuous conflict in their home country,” the report stated.
Food shortages in South Sudan mean that many of the refugees, especially children, are severely malnourished and ill when they reach the transit centres at one of seven entry points. The largest, Pagak, transfers on average more than 1,000 people a day to two camps across Gambela Region.
Data from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) indicate that there could be an average of 1,000 new arrivals each day to Ethiopia.
Deres tilstand er meget kritisk, siger nødhjælpsarbejder
“The condition of women and children who are crossing over is quite critical at the moment,” said Adem Shifa of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). He was conducting medical screening tests for refugees before relocating them to various camps when IRIN spoke to him in March.
“A majority of them are malnourished and are also infected with various diarrhoeal diseases. We can also spot some measles cases and other respiratory-related health problems,” he said. “Most of the children need food here at the entry points, not after their relocation to other camps,” he added.
Yodit Mekasha, a medical expert at Kule refugee camp near the Pagak border entry point echoed this view and said that while 1,500 children have been assisted medically at the camp, it is sometimes too late to do anything. “Some of them reach here when they are already weak and [it is] difficult to treat them. We have seen six children passing away a few weeks ago due to that.”
Hjælp ved grænseovergangene har forbedret situationen
Temporary health posts have been set up at entry points which has helped reduce the number of people who arrive at camps critically ill. The World Food Programme (WFP) has also set up food rationing centres at entry points to Gambela Region to aid the severely malnourished entering Ethiopia.
“So their condition as they cross over at the first level of registration is improving as a result of that,” said Purnima Kashyap, acting country director for WFP Ethiopia.
But, she warned: “The challenge is that the people who are coming in now have been staying amidst the forest or in the interior without any food to eat, and that brings people to the camp in a much more critical condition than the people who came a month and half ago.”
“Those who came in January and February were in a much better condition than the ones that are coming in now,” she added.
Rainy season only a month away
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http://www.irinnews.org/report/99839/ethiopia-struggling-to-cope-with-south-sudanese-refugee-influx
