Thousands of people enter Ethiopia fleeing fighting in neighboring Sudan: Official

Xinhua , Wednesday 26 Apr 2023

Thousands of people have entered Ethiopia fleeing fighting in neighboring Sudan, an Ethiopian official said Wednesday.

People wait to be evacuated from Sudan
People wait to be evacuated near an airport in Omdurman, Sudan, April 26, 2023. As conflict continues in Sudan, many people have fled to neighboring countries. Xinhua

 

Speaking to local media, Gizachew Muluneh, the head of the communication bureau in Ethiopia's Amhara region, said in the last five days thousands of people have entered the West Gonder zone of Amhara region fleeing fighting in Sudan.

Muluneh said the regional administration and the federal government are jointly providing emergency humanitarian aid as well as material support to the refugees who are of various nationalities.

He also said scores of Ethiopians who were previously residing in Sudan have crossed back to their home country in the last few days.

"The local host population is also providing food and water to the refugees which mainly consist of children, women, mothers and the elderly," Muluneh further said.

Brutal fighting erupted in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on April 15 and swiftly escalated in different parts of the country.

The ongoing fighting is pitting the Sudanese army against the country's paramilitary force, the Rapid Support Force (RSF). Both sides have accused each other of initiating the conflict.

Deep differences have emerged between the Sudanese army and the RSF, particularly regarding the latter's integration into the army as stipulated in a framework agreement signed between military and civilian leaders on Dec. 5, 2022.

In December 2022, Sudan's military and civilian leaders signed a political framework agreement to end the political impasse and institute a two-year transitional civilian authority, but the two sides have so far failed to transform the agreement into a final deal.

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