Over 21,000 S/Sudan refugees flood Ethiopian camps----Red Cross

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No fewer than 12,000 South Sudanese who fled violence in their country had arrived Ethiopian refugee camps, the  Red Cross Society, ICRC, said on Wednesday, reports NAN.
Ariane Tombet, Head of the ICRC delegation in Ethiopia, said the 12,000 were among those who arrived recently and required immediate medical attention and other aids.
``Most of them are with small children, walking for days to arrive at the Ethiopian Gambella and other refugee camps’’, Tembet said.
The Ethiopian Aid Organisation had also said that it was collaborating with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent counterpart to provide the new refugees with medical care and basic services.
It was gathered that no fewer than 95,000 South Sudanese had fled to neighbouring Ethiopia camps since the violence broke out in December 2013.
The number is expected to rise following the recent violence in some parts of the country that left more than 200 dead and many others injured. Some fled to Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.
The Secretary-General of the Ethiopian Red Cross, Frehiwot Worku, told NAN in Addis Ababa that more refugees were arriving everyday while the Red Cross ambulance crews were rendering 24-hour service to them.
Worku appealed for additional services from other humanitarian organisations to meet the needs of the ever increasing number seeking immediate attention, food and shelter.
``The rainy season will soon be here and there is the likelihood for an increase in water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea. It is vital that we work with refugees now to ensure they are aware of some of the measures they can take to help prevent such diseases.’’
The organisations said they had trained 100 volunteers who are refugees themselves to help in improving sanitation and to attend emergency health needs.
Meanwhile, the parties to the conflict had begun negotiations in Addis Ababa under the Inter-governmental Authority for Development, IGAD.
The mediation is a renewed effort to resolve the political impasse between President Salva Kiir-led South Sudan Government and the SPLM/A Opposition party led by his former Vice President, Riek Machar.

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