ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia is set to open a new camp for South Sudanese refugees in a bid to cope with rising number of people running from a brutal civil war.
The new refugee camp to be located in Benishangul Gumuz regional state is expected to ease the burden on the region’s main refugee camp Sherkole, reports the news agency of Benishangul Gumuz regional state on Wednesday.
Benishangul Gumuz along with another regional state Gambella have taken the burden of hosting the majority of 285, 809 South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia registered by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as of June 30.
Africa’s newest nation South Sudan has around 2 million people that have fled the civil war to foreign countries, principally neighboring countries like Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya.
The civil war started as an isolated clash in South Sudan capital city Juba on December 2013 between forces broadly loyal to President Salva Kiir and his Ex-Deputy Riek Machar.
However, it soon transformed into all out civil war that has displaced millions, killed thousands and crippled South Sudan’s fragile oil based economy.
©Xinhua
