Refugees From Sudan Strain Ethiopia Camps

The New York Times, May 1, 1988

By Sheila Rule

Main Point: Sudanese refugees fleeing civil war are crossing over into Ethiopia, stretching the capacity of already overcrowded relief camps. The Sudanese are fleeing a civil war in which the Arab Government is fighting against the rebelling Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Summary: U.N. officials and Ethiopian government say that 30,000 starving Sudanese refugees are coming to Ethiopia and swelling the population of four refugee camps to 265,000. Most of the refugees are boys and young men from the southern region of Sudan. They are fleeing because government supported tribes are coming into their villages and killing all the men and boys.

The refugees spend three months walking 450 miles to make it to Ethiopia, surviving on roots and contaminated water. The camps into which they come are already overpopulated and they cannot properly care for the refugees already there. 8.6 million is being pledged form the World Food Program to help supply camps with badly needed food. Ethiopia is having it’s own problems with civil war in the north and a drought which had put seven million of it’s own people at risk of starvation.

Summary by W. Davis