Refugee agency calls for greater care for war-displaced

The NGO Refugees International said on Tuesday that thousands of war-displaced people, especially in disputed border areas, are living in cramped conditions with host families - or, worse, in caves, rock overhangs and in the open - and desperately need food and shelter. More than 90 percent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) were to be found in a belt of land due south of the border that runs from Bereket on the Sudanese border in the west to Adigrat in the east, leading precarious existence on food handouts; the remainder were to be found along Ethiopia’s southeastern border Afar Region, a statement from the agency, received by IRIN, stated. Claiming that “Ethiopia’s civilian victims of war have been relegated to the shadows”, Refugees International called for increased donor funding to feed IDPs; the provision of shelter, basic commodities, health and education services, water and sanitation; the inclusion of deportees from Eritrea and host communities among beneficiaries of humanitarian aid; and greater access to IDPs in areas of conflict from the Ethiopian government.