US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Tibor P. Nagy (SUNA)
Khartoum (UNA) – The United States expressed appreciation of the major humanitarian role being played by Sudan to shelter thousands of the Ethiopian refugees fleeing the armed conflict in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.
In a statement published Thursday on the official website of the US Department of State, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Tibor P. Nagy said, “We welcome the generosity demonstrated by the people of Sudan in hosting Ethiopian refugees.”
He added that the US has been one of the largest contributors to humanitarian assistance to the region, providing more than $320 million in FY2020 to UN humanitarian agencies and other humanitarian organization partners to provide protection and assistance for refugees, internally displaced persons, and conflict victims in Sudan.
“We are also closely tracking the outflow of civilians to neighboring countries and are in close contact with UN and other humanitarian officials regarding contingency plans on their response. We urge neighboring countries to keep their borders open to asylum seekers fleeing the violence,” Nagy said, pointing out that the Sudanese have provided refuge for Ethiopians fleeing a whole series of conflicts in Ethiopia going back to the time of the emperor.
The immediate cause of the conflict was an alleged attack on 4 November 2020 by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on the headquarters of the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the defense wing of the Government of Ethiopia.
The conflict has resulted in more than 35,000 refugees fleeing the Tigray region into neighboring Sudan, as fighting spilled beyond Ethiopia’s borders and threatened to inflame the Horn of Africa region.
