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UNHCR / ETHIOPIA SUDANESE REFUGEES
STORY: UNHCR / ETHIOPIA SUDANESE REFUGEES
TRT: 06:38
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 25, 27, 30 JANUARY 2024, ASSOSA, ETHIOPIA
30 JANUARY 2024, KURMUK BORDER CROSSING - ASSOSA, ETHIOPIA
1. Various shots, Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Teyiba Hassen, Ethiopia's Refugees and Returnees Service Director General walking to Kurmuk border crossing border
2. Med shot, Sudan flag
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
"This is a Kurmuk, the border between Sudan and Ethiopia. Through this border, 20,000 Sudanese refugees have crossed into Ethiopia to seek safety from the war in their country. They are part of almost 50,000 who have come to Ethiopia since April 2023 when hostilities erupted in Sudan."
30 JANUARY 2024, KURMUK TRANSIT CENTRE - ASSOSA, ETHIOPIA
4. Med shot, Grandi, UNHCR officials and Hassen walking in Kurmuk transit centre
5. Wide shot, women doing beadwork
6. Wide shot, Grandi meeting women
7. Med shot, various of Grandi and Hassen
8. Close up, hand hiding bead
30 JANUARY 2024, KURMUK BORDER CROSSING - ASSOSA, ETHIOPIA
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
"Africans never shy away, and they are true to their reputation of being hospitable people, of being generous to the distressed. This is an appeal. This is naturally an appeal also to the international community. All these countries, including Ethiopia, are not rich countries, are not countries with a lot of resources. They need international help. They need burden sharing. And unfortunately, the Sudanese refugee crisis, displacement crisis, humanitarian crisis is one of the least funded in the world
today."
25 JANUARY 2024, KURMUK TRANSIT CENTRE - ASSOSA, ETHIOPIA
10. Close up, various of elderly man looking on
11. Med shot, boy standing near makeshift shelter
12. Med shot, women fetching water at water point
13. Med shot, boys carrying bucket of water
14. Close up, various of people fetching water
15. Wide shot, children outside shelter
16. Med shot, various of familes in shelter
17. Close up, woman looking on
18. Wide shot, various of children in class session
19. Close up, children
20. Close up, teacher writing on chalk board
21. Med shot, students taking down notes
22. Close up, notes in book
27 JANUARY 2024, KURMUK TRANSIT CENTRE - ASSOSA, ETHIOPIA
23. Close up, various of Sudanese refugee, Hawa Ahmed Yassin frying falafel
24. Close up, Falafel frying in pan
25. Med shot, various of Hawa frying falafel
26. Close up, various of falafel
27. SOUNBITE (Arabic) Hawa Ahmed Yassin, Sudanese refugee:
"Before the kids had their tea we heard gunshots and bombs and we had to run before taking our breakfast. We left the tea boiling. The children had nothing to eat that day."
28. Med shot, Hawa getting out of her shelter
29. Close up, various of Hawa grinding grains
30. SOUNBITE (Arabic) Hawa Ahmed Yassin, Sudanese refugee:
"The security situation in Sudan is difficult, as you can see with this war. So it's difficult for me to think about returning home because of the ongoing conflict. War is not new to Sudan, we have been fleeing from one place to another since I was a young girl."
31. Med shot, men offloading non-food items from truck
32. Med shot, various of women in queue waiting to collect non-food items
30 JANUARY 2024, KURMUK BORDER CROSSING - ASSOSA, ETHIOPIA
33. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
"There are many other crises around the world. Some are acute.
Some make the headlines. We should not forget that, for the people that I have just spoken to that have fled from war in Sudan, their headline is they are suffering day in and day out and they need help."
34. Med shot, UNHCR and RRS officials handing out non-food item to refugees
35. Close up, Woman looking on
With nearly 8 million people displaced by the brutal conflict in Sudan, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has called for urgent and additional support to meet their needs.
Concluding a three-day visit to Ethiopia this week, Grandi observed first-hand the efforts of the Government of Ethiopia, supported by UNHCR and partners, to assist Sudanese refugees who have recently arrived in the country. Grandi travelled to Assosa, in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, where he met some of the over 20,000 refugees and asylum-seekers currently hosted at the Kurmuk transit centre. Since April 2023, over 100,000 people have crossed into Ethiopia from Sudan, including close to 47,000 refugees and asylum-seekers. These come in addition to some 50,000 Sudanese refugees already in the country.
“I heard stories of heartbreaking loss of family, friends, homes and livelihoods, yet in the midst of this despair, I also saw refugees’ determination to move forward, if given the support and opportunity,” said Grandi.
Grandi expressed appreciation for the Government as well as local communities for allocating land and welcoming those forced to flee despite their own challenges, including hosting a large refugee population.
“Ethiopia’s continued generosity to the displaced, including those who have recently arrived from Sudan, is commendable and should be matched with even greater support from the international community. Without further donor support, it will be extremely difficult to deliver much-needed help to those who need it most,” Grandi added.
Ethiopia is one of six neighbouring countries that continue to receive thousands of people fleeing Sudan. Last week, the number of new arrivals to Chad topped 500,000 since last April and, in South Sudan, on average 1,500 people cross daily into the country.
UNHCR is supporting the Ethiopian Government, including the Refugees and Returnees Service, regional and local authorities, to provide protection and life-saving services to the new arrivals.
Newly arrived Sudanese refugees are being relocated away from the border areas to new settlements. The Government, UNHCR and other partners are working towards developing settlements that support the inclusion of refugees into national systems. Services such as education, health, and access to clean water will be reinforced and benefit both host and refugee communities.
The High Commissioner highlighted several other regions in Ethiopia where protection and humanitarian needs are also on the rise, such as the Somali region, which has experienced a continued influx of refugees from Laascaanood, Somalia, as well as the effects of El Niño and recent floods. He also highlighted the impact of dwindling resources on the humanitarian response, particularly in health and education.
Ethiopia hosts one of the largest refugee and internally displaced populations globally. As the third largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, it is currently home to nearly 1 million refugees – mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan – while an estimated 3.5 million Ethiopians are internally displaced.
At the end of last year, UNHCR’s programmes in Ethiopia were significantly less than half-funded (36 percent of the USD 431 million needed). In 2024, the overall requirements for UNHCR’s response in Ethiopia totals some USD 426 million.
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