UNHCR faces funding shortfall to meet needs of refugees, IDPs in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Dec 16 (IANS) The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it has only received 72 per cent of the $164.5 million it required to meet the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in Ethiopia.

In its latest situation update report published on Wednesday, the UNHCR said it has only received 72 per cent of the $164.5 million it needs to meet the needs of 96,000 Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, 650,000 IDPs in Ethiopia as well as 120,000 Ethiopian refugees in eastern Sudan, reports Xinhua news agency.

The funds are needed to meet the shelter, education, health as well as water and sanitation needs of refugees and IDPs in Ethiopia as well as Ethiopian refugees in Sudan, the UNHCR disclosed.

Ethiopia is the third largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, sheltering 806,374 registered refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, as of October 31, 2021, according to UN figures.

The country also has a large number of IDPs, including 2.2 million who were forced to flee the conflict that broke out in November 2020, in the northern Tigray regional state.