IOM Director General William Lacy Swing, UNHCR High Commissioner
António Guterres and Ethiopia’s Deputy Director for
Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) Ato Ayalew Awoke yesterday
(16/7) visited Bambasi refugee camp in Ethiopia’s Benishangul
Gumuz region.

The Director General and the High Commissioner urged the
international community to extend its support to thousands of
Sudanese refugees affected by the ongoing fighting between the
Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People Liberation
Movement North (SPLM-N) in Sudan’s Blue Nile State.

“We are very pleased that Ethiopia has kept the border
open. But this situation is serious and requires the continued
attention of the international community,” said Ambassador
Swing.

Echoing High Commissioner Guterres’ appeal for more
support to provide the refugees with basic services, he stressed
that the humanitarian community needs more international help
“to engage much more resolutely.”

 

Bambasi camp, which was opened last month, is the third established
in the region. It already houses over 8,000 refugees moved by IOM
with UNHCR funding from the crowded Al Damazine transit camp near
the Sudanese border in mid-June.

IOM has also started work on constructing 420 shelters in
Bambasi with funding provided by UNHCR.  The construction of
the shelters is progressing and IOM plans to complete them within
three months.

Since September 2011, IOM has provided emergency transport and
pre-departure medical checks to over 27,000 Sudanese fleeing the
violence in the Blue Nile State, working in close coordination with
UNHCR and ARRA.

The influx is still continuing and in the first five months of
2012 alone, more than 9,500 refugees arrived in Benishangul Gumuz
region. The first refugees were moved to Sherkole camp, but growing
numbers forced the authorities to open a second camp – Tongo
and Al Damazine Transit Camp – in October 2011. Bambasi
followed in June 2012.

For more information please contact

Demissew Bizuwerk

IOM Ethiopia

Tel +251 116 611 117 (Ext. 455)

Email: "mailto:bdemissew@iom.int">bdemissew@iom.int