UNHCR faces funding shortfall to meet needs of refugees, IDPs in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa [Ethiopia], March 19 (ANI/Xinhua): The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Saturday said it only received 13 per cent of 205.4 million US dollars it wants to meet the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in Ethiopia.
In its latest Northern Ethiopia Emergency update report, UNHCR said it has received only 25.9 million out of the 205.4 million U.S. dollars it wants to meet the needs of 93,500 refugees and asylum seekers in Ethiopia, as well as 2.6 million IDPs.
The funds are needed to meet the shelter, education, health as well as water and sanitation needs of refugees and IDPs in Ethiopia, the UNHCR disclosed.
UNHCR also disclosed that it has recently voluntarily returned 12,222 IDPs to their areas of origin in safety and dignity.
The UN agency also provided core relief items to 41,000 refugees, returnees and affected populations in northern Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is the third-largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, sheltering 806,374 registered refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, as of Oct. 31, 2021, UNHCR figures show.
The country also has several million IDPs, including 2.2 million who were forced to flee the conflict that broke out in November 2020, in the northern Tigray regional state. (ANI/Xinhua)