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UN Refugee Agency: More than 25,000 Ethiopians Flee Violence for Sudan

VOA News

   The UNrefugee agency says more than 25,000Ethiopians, mostly women and
   children,have fled the violence in the country's Tigray region for
   Sudan.

   The UNagencysaid Monday,the largest group making the exodus since the
   conflict began,close to 5,000,arrived in Sudan's border provinces on
   Sunday.

   Jens Hasemann, Emergency Response Coordinator forUNHCR (UnitedNations
   High Commissioner for Refugees)describedthe situationas very
   bad.HasemannsaidtheUNHCR, the World Food Program, Sudan Red Cross,
   Muslim Aid and otheragenciesare providing aid but moreneeds to be done.

   Fighting eruptedlast weekafter Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
   launched a military offensive againsttheTigray regional government
   after an alleged attack by theTigrayregion's forces.

   TedeyBenjamin,arefugee from Tigray,said when a man, or even a child
   isslaughtered, this is revenge. This is a tribal war.

   Abiy's government on Mondayagain shunnedinternational pleasto open
   talks to end the conflict while neighboring Uganda and Kenya made
   similar pleas for both sides to seek a peaceful resolution tothe
   crisis.

   Tensions have been building in the region since September '¯9'¯when
   Tigray, the northernmost of Ethiopia's nine regional states, defiantly
   held a regional election after Ahmed postponed the polls, citing the
   COVID-19 pandemic.'¯

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