2,500 refugees to return to Sudan from Ethiopian forest
Sudanese refugees flee from Olala camp in Ethiopia to a nearby forest - May 2024 (Photo: RD)
About 2,500 Sudanese refugees who are stranded in the Awlala Forest in the Amhara region of Ethiopia announced that they will leave the forest on foot on Thursday and head towards the refugee registration point on the Ethiopian-Sudanese border.
The Coordination Committee for the refugees trapped in the forests said in a statement obtained by Radio Dabanga that the refugees made this decision after 98 days, and indicated that three people were killed by gunfire, and two children died of malnutrition in just two weeks.
A spokesman for the coordination committee told Radio Dabanga that there were 11 cases of miscarriage and 23 refugees were injured by gunfire. He stressed that these conditions led to a state of terror and panic among the refugees and caused their numbers to decrease from 6,080 to 2,411 refugees, as follows (693 children, 349 women, 18 pregnant women, 39 nursing mothers, 97 elderly people).
He explained that among them were 24 people with disabilities and 64 people with chronic diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, heart disease, asthma, high blood pressure and diabetes.
The Coordination Committee called on the United Nations, the High Commissioner for Refugees and its partners, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations to accompany the refugees and provide international protection, and held all parties concerned with human rights and refugee protection fully responsible for their exposure to any type of potential risk.
The UNHCR and the Ethiopian Refugee and Returnees Department announced the relocation of refugees from Kumer and Awlala camps to the Iftet area, 35 kilometers from the border. They completed the relocation of about three thousand people, while the refugees in the Awlala forest refused to move to the Iftat camp, which is located in the same region that suffers from security disturbances. Thousands of Sudanese have fled to Ethiopia through the Metema and Kurmuk crossings since the outbreak of the ongoing war.
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