Ethiopia: 100,000 New Somali Refugees Arrive in Ethiopia in the Past Month, UN and Partners Are Calling for Urgent Funding

22 March 2023
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
press release

As needs grow and refugees continue to arrive, UN agencies and partner organizations today appealed for US$116 million to provide life-saving assistance to Somali refugees seeking safety in an extremely remote area of Ethiopia's Somali region.

Since hostilities erupted last month in the city of Laascaanood, in the Sool region, Somalia, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced within Somalia, and close to 100,000 are estimated to have crossed the border into Ethiopia to escape the violence.

Most of the new arrivals in Ethiopia are women, children, older people and people with specific needs, who arrive with nothing, scared and hungry. Among them are a high number of unaccompanied and separated children, which heightens protection concerns.

The humanitarian situation on the ground is dire, with moderate acute malnutrition observed in many children under five and in pregnant and nursing mothers. There is a high risk of disease outbreaks, with worrying reports of measles cases in the area.

"The Ethiopian Government and local communities have generously welcomed the refugees, extending any help they can, but with the continuing arrivals, resources are already severely overstretched," said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, UNHCR's Regional Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region. "We need additional funding to ramp up delivery of aid and address the acute and growing humanitarian needs."

The funds will help provide urgently needed shelter and relief items, such as blankets, mats, and mosquito nets. Food will also be provided to all families in need through monthly general food distributions. Emergency food assistance is already being provided to meet the most immediate food and nutrition needs of new arrivals.

With the high numbers of women and children among the refugees, support will prioritize child protection services, prevention and response to gender-based violence, documentation, and education.

Child-friendly spaces will be established to help with children's well-being. Tracing and family reunification services and alternative care arrangements for separated children will be undertaken.

Refugee settlements will be established in two sites, Mirkan and Docmo, thanks to land provided by the Ethiopian government. Investments are planned to expand the existing government health clinics, supply medicines and medical care, and establish nutritional support programmes.

"This influx of refugees is happening at the worst time possible, in an extremely remote area of Ethiopia's Somali region which is also one of the most severely hit by the worst drought in 60 years," said Michael Dunford, WFP's Regional Director for East Africa. "To save lives, we need funding now."

Funding levels in Ethiopia remain critically low, and the response to the drought in the Horn of Africa is under severe pressure due to the rapidly rising needs. Ethiopia already hosted 884,000 refugees and asylum-seekers - predominantly from South Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea - before the most recent arrivals.

As refugees continue to flee, the needs will increasingly outstrip the resources available. We are urgently appealing to the international community to swiftly mobilize sufficient resources to allow aid agencies to continue to support the Ethiopian government to provide a coordinated, effective and life-saving response.

Note for editors

The organizations launching the appeal include UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and non-governmental organizations GOAL, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Organization for Sustainable Development (OSD) and OWS Development Funds (OWS-DF).

The link to the interagency appeal can be found here.

For more information, please contact:

Neven Crvenkovic, UNHCR/Addis Ababa, [email protected] Mob. +251 948 053 450

Faith Kasina, UNHCR/Nairobi (regional), [email protected] Mob. +254 113 427 094

Olga Sarrado, UNHCR/Geneva (global) [email protected], +41797402307

Claire Nevill, WFP/Addis Ababa, [email protected] Mob. +251 944 33 4949

Deborah Nguyen, WFP/Nairobi, [email protected] Mob. +254 734 55 4021

Wossen Mulatu, UNICEF/Ethiopia, [email protected] Mob. +251 911308483

Paula Fernández, UNFPA/Addis Ababa, [email protected] Mob. +251 935597136

Karl Schembri, NRC/ Nairobi (Regional), [email protected] +254 741 664 562

Kalkidan Yishak, GOAL Ethiopia, [email protected] | Mob. +251911561163

Beza Beshah Haile, OWS-Development Fund/Addis Ababa [email protected], Mob +251949484848

Mesele Adane, Organization for Sustainable Development/Addis Ababa, [email protected], Mob. +251911687252

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Read the original article on UNHCR.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2023 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.