TNAG-0587-FCO40-720-Aid-from-UK-for-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1976 — Page 115

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ANNEX G

ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES IN THE SUDAN

1.

The Ethiopian army has been engaged in conflict for some 14 years with insurgents fighting for independence for the province of Eritrea. There is evidence to indicate that the Ethiopian army has behaved with indiscriminate brutality towards the civilian population of the province. Between March and May (1975) about 40,000 refugees fled from Eritrea to the Sudan, bringing the total number of Ethiopian refugees in the country to over 100,000 (the numbers have probably increased since then). Nearly all of the 'newcomers', as the Sudanese describe them, stayed in Kassala province, and 20-30,000 of these were directed to the area near Wad Halaiwa. We have heard that the plight of the refugees is in some cases near desperate.

2. Last year the UNHCR helped the Sudanese Government to channel aid to the refugees, and $168,529 was allocated from the UNHCR Emergency Fund for transporting the refugees to suitable settlements and for the provision of food and shelter. In June 1975 in response to a UNHCR request the ODM Disaster Unit provided £15,000 for the local purchase of vehicles. This year, in view of the continuing refugee problem, the UNHCR allocated a further $127,000 from their Emergency Fund. In June 1976, OXFAM gave £5,000 to support UNHCR's work.

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