Ethiopia-Sudan Border Clashes Force UN To Relocate Refugee Camps

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has disclosed its accelerating relocation of Ethiopian refugees from border camps to avoid fallout from persistent Ethiopia-Sudan border clashes.

In a situation update published on Monday, the UNOCHA disclosed clashes along the Ethiopia-Sudan border have prompted the UN to accelerate efforts to relocate Ethiopian refugees in Sudan away from areas near the border with Ethiopia, reports Xinhua news agency.

The border area between Sudan and Ethiopia often witnesses armed clashes by militias during the preparation for the agricultural season.

Since September 2020, the Sudan-Ethiopia border has been witnessing rising tensions and skirmishes between the two sides.

UNOCHA also disclosed the outflow of Ethiopian refugees to Sudan mainly originating from Ethiopia's northern Tigray regional state is continuing, but the daily arrivals numbers have reduced in recent days.

The UN is housing nearly 60,000 Ethiopian refugees who fled ongoing conflict in the Tigray regional state which broke out last November.

Months of fighting in the region between the former ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian Defense Forces have reportedly left thousands of people dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, and millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.