ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Wednesday called for rapid action to meet the humanitarian needs of nearly a million displaced people due to intermunicipal violence in Ethiopia.
The UN Migration Agency recently revealed that approximately 970,000 people have fled their homes since April of this year due to fighting between communities along the border of the Gedeo zone in Ethiopia in the southern region and the West Guji zone in the largest Oromia region. from Ethiopia.
According to the ICRC, aid has increased in recent weeks, but "still insufficient to meet the needs of displaced persons." With schools used as shelters and so many children still displaced, it can also be difficult for students to return to school when the new academic year starts in September. "
"Schools, factories and courthouses are just some of the buildings that now act as shelters for displaced families in southern Ethiopia, after a wave of intermunicipal collisions along the border areas of the Gedeo and West Guji zones nearly a million people houses, "the ICRC said in a statement on Wednesday.
People often lack food and clean water and sleep on the floor without blankets or mats. The district of Kochere in the Gedeo zone has, according to the ICRC, almost doubled from 130,000 people to more than 230,000.
The influx of displaced persons has also caused a heavy burden for host communities, many of whom were already struggling with food insecurity. Hospitals and clinics are also overwhelmed by the strong increase in patients according to ICRC.
"We have seen health centers in the area with a huge problem: they worked well, but suddenly they have more than double the population that comes in and many of those people who come in are already ill," statement quoted James Reynolds, head of the delegation from the ICRC in Ethiopia.
"When such a thing happens, the conditions in which those people live are really very difficult," Reynolds added.
The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) released 15 million US dollars last month to urgently scale up humanitarian aid to people affected by escalating intermunicipal violence in Ethiopia.
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