The UNHCR said on Thursday that it would next week begin airlifting 2,000 tents from its stockpiles in Macedonia and Kosovo to Sudan to help provide shelter for the thousands of refugees from the latest fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The agency said in a press release that it had so far registered 20,066 Eritreans who had crossed the border into Sudan’s Kassala state in the past week. Officials in Eritrea estimate that there are a further 20,000 to 40,000 ready to cross the border into Sudan, if the fighting should worsen. As of Wednesday, the UNHCR had distributed 1,600 tents and 2,416 jerrycans to refugees in a region where there is little vegetation and daytime temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius. A truck carrying 200 tents and 800 jerrycans left Khartoum for Kassala state on Wednesday, UNHCR said. The UN Humanitarian Co-coordinator in Sudan, who visited Kassala on Wednesday, reported that in addition to the tents and jerrycans, UNHCR had brought in six water tankers and contributed US $10,000 for sanitation. All refugees were receiving food from the WFP, while the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) was using medicines provided by UNICEF—which also planned to provide plastic sheeting for additional shelter.
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