UN call for humanitarian pause in Ethiopia

By Nathan Morley

The UN hope the corridors will enable access to civilians after two weeks of fighting. They are currently hoping to raise U$200 million to cover food, shelter and other urgent needs.

The UN is planning for up to 200,000 refugees over the next six-months. Babar Baloch, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said: ‘A temporary ceasefire with immediate effect is needed to allow humanitarian corridors to be established.’

Meanwhile, aid agencies are scaling up the humanitarian response in eastern Sudan, where more than 30,000 people fleeing the fighting have arrived over the past fortnight.

Will Carter, the Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said people were sleeping out in the open.

‘There are no tents, just blankets. There is some food, like porridge and water, but there are no toilets, showers or health services. Many families arrived with nothing more than the clothes on their back. They are essentially arriving with nothing, to nothing’.

In a separate development, forces from Ethiopia’s Tigray region have fired rockets into the city of Bahir Dar but no casualties or damage were reported.