Aid Groups Warns of Increased Refugee Flow to Ethiopia from Somali

Posted November 2nd, 2011 at 6:20 am (UTC-5)
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Medical charity group Doctors Without Borders says it is struggling to keep up with the increased number of refugees entering Ethiopia from war and famine stricken Somalia.

The group said Wednesday the number of Somalis entering the Dollo Ado refugee camp in Ethiopia has increased to about 300 per day in recent weeks – a level not seen since the height of the famine in July.

The organization says it does not have enough latrines, shelter or drinking water for the thousands more who are expected to enter the camp in the coming weeks.

While the group says a new refugee camp is expected to open in a “few weeks' time,” it is calling on other aid agencies to help open the camp at an earlier date.

It is also calling for the Ethiopian government to “continue facilitating the necessary imports of medicines and materials.”

The group says nearly all refugees at the camp say they left Somalia because of food shortages, as well as the insecurity caused by the Kenyan military incursion into Somalia to hunt down al-Shabab insurgents.

Last week, the U.N. Refugee Agency said the recent military activity along the Kenya-Somalia border was forcing more Somali refugees to flee to Ethiopia instead of Kenya.

The organization said approximately 3.7 million Somalis are still in need of emergency food aid as a result of the region's worst famine in decades.