War displaced “exhausted”

People fleeing the western town of Barentu, which has fallen to the Ethiopians, were arriving in Adurdet in civilian trucks and buses “shocked and exhausted”, a journalist who visited the area told IRIN on Sunday night. One woman told the journalist she had to walk for five days with her children before reaching Adurdet. Scorching sun, lack of shelter and water have made conditions difficult for the displaced, many of whom who fled areas of fighting without any household possessions. Kidane Woldeyesus, spokesman at the Eritrean embassy in Nairobi, told IRIN that the displacement of people in such massive numbers had not been anticipated by the government. For those already affected by drought, displacement “compounds the humanitarian problem and increases it in magnitude,” he added.