16,687 people fleeing fighting in Sudan have crossed to Ethiopia, the UN’s relief agency, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) disclosed on Tuesday evening.
In its update report on the impact of Sudan’s crisis in Ethiopia, UNOCHA disclosed more than 16,600 people mostly Ethiopian nationals have arrived through the Metema border crossing in Ethiopia’s Amhara region since April 21, fleeing fighting in Sudan.
“Increase in arrivals at the Metema border, picked up on Monday after two consecutive days of low numbers. Of the 832 people that arrived on that day, 494 were Ethiopian and 388 foreign nationals,” the UNOCHA report disclosed.
“As of May 8, a total of 16,687 arrivals since April 21, out of whom 55 percent are male and 45 percent are female, including 11 percent infants and children under five have been reported,” the UNOCHA report further disclosed.
On Thursday, an official at the Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) disclosed, at least 1,469 Sudanese who fled recent fighting in their home country have registered as refugees in Ethiopia.
Since mid-April major cities in Sudan have turned into battle fields as fighting rages on between Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), the country’s national army.
Sudan has been suffering a political crisis since Sudanese army chief, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan declared martial law in October 2021 and dissolved the previous joint military-civilian run government.
