U.S Assistant Secretary of State, Anne Richard, has pledged to further assist the 167,000 refugees from South Sudan located at various camps in Ethiopia.
She spoke at the Gambella Region, Western Ethiopia, when she visited the refugees living in camps in the region recently.
She said she had come to observe refugee programmes and assistance provided for the refugees who had arrived in Ethiopia since December.
Richard’s visit followed the appeal for 658 million dollars by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partners to respond to the regional refugee crisis.
“We need to do more; and I need to convince people in the United States that we have to invest more here, even as we cope with those other crises around the world,’’ she said.
Richard said she was worried about women, girls and children, who had been abused on their way to the camps.
“It will really need experts here on the scene on a daily basis, to make sure the victims get what they need and to take preventive action,’’ she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Richard was accompanied by U.S Ambassador to Ethiopia Patricia Haslach.
The visitors were shocked by a refugee, Nyabiel Ran, 45, who said her journey from Bentiu in Unity State–South Sudan, took more than two months.
A UN report says no fewer than 715,000 South Sudan refugees would cross into Ethiopia by the end of the year.
It notes that the ongoing conflict and worsening humanitarian situation in South Sudan is fuelling a refugee exodus into Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.
The UNHCR says the conflict is driving refugees into Ethiopia at the rate of 883 a day, nearly filling all the three camps.
UNHCR and its main government counterpart, the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs, say the organisations are searching for a new site to build additional camps.
