IOM has deployed staff in Western Ethiopia to provide emergency
relocation assistance to an estimated 20,000 Sudanese who have fled
recent fighting between government forces and armed groups allied
to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement northern wing (SPLM-N) in
Blue Nile State.

The overwhelming majority of those who have crossed into
Ethiopia over the past few days are still stranded on the border,
with little food, water, shelter and other basics.

The IOM team, consisting of medical and operational staff, has
arrived in the Ethiopian towns Kirmuk and Gizane to organize the
immediate relocation of the newly arrived to an established refugee
camp in Sherkole, some 50 km inland from the border.

IOM will today assess road conditions, identify local service
providers and set up embarkation sites and medical screening
facilities with a view to start the relocation of the refuges away
from the border within the next 24 hours.

IOM is also looking into the possible relocation of Sudanese
refugees to sites near the western town of Bambasi, which have been
identified by the Ethiopian Agency for Refugees and Returnees
Affairs (ARRA), UNHCR and the regional government to host the new
arrivals.

As part of this operation, IOM will provide pre-embarkation
medical assessments and operational and medical escorts to Sudanese
refugees, with a special attention towards the most vulnerable,
including women, children, the sick and the elderly.

IOM will provide water and high energy biscuits during the
travel and experienced IOM operations and medical staff will assist
vulnerable individuals with special needs.

IOM and UNHCR have released USD 250,000 from their joint Rapid
Response Transportation Fund (RRTF) to cover some of the immediate
transportation costs.

"With reports of on-going fighting and bombing in Blue Nile
State, we expect more people to cross into Ethiopia in the coming
days," says Mohammed Abdiker, IOM Director of Operations. "More
funding will be needed to move people away from congested border
areas to camps where the refugees will receive the assistance and
protection they need."

Since the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in
January 2005 between the Sudanese government in Khartoum and the
South Sudan rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, some
two million displaced people have returned to their communities in
South Sudan and the so-called "Three Areas" of Abyei, Blue Nile and
Southern Kordofan.

However, all three areas have suffered heavy fighting at some
point in recent months as uncertainty over their future remains.
Their status on whether they would be part of Sudan or South Sudan
was left unresolved in the CPA.

For more information please contact:

Jean Philippe Chauzy

IOM Geneva

Tel: +41 22 717 9361 / +41 79 285 4366

E-mail: "mailto:jpchauzy@iom.int">jpchauzy@iom.int