DATE=5/30/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N-H-C-R / ERITREA (L-O)
NUMBER=2-262959
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The U-N refugee agency reports a sharp
increase in the number of Eritrean refugees fleeing
into neighboring Sudan. Lisa Schlein in Geneva
reports the agency says as many as 10-thousand
Eritreans crossed into Sudan in one recent 24-hour
period.
TEXT: The United Nations says the Eritrean refugees
crossed into Sudan on foot, in donkey carts, and on
trucks and tractors. They arrived at Lafa, the
largest camp for Eritrean refugees along the border.
The refugees told aid workers that Ethiopian troops
controlled the town of Tesseney, about 30-kilometers
from the Sudanese border. Most said there had been no
fighting for the town, although others reported
artillery fire nearby.
U-N-H-C-R spokesman Kris Janowski says none of the new
arrivals was injured. He says Ethiopian troops
checked the identity papers of those leaving Tesseney,
apparently looking for soldiers. Otherwise, he says
they did not stop or harass people taking to the road.
Mr. Janowski says most of the newly arrived refugees
are children and women, although there was a
significant number of men.
/// JANOWSKI ACT ONE ///
The latest arrivals are in a bad shape,
exhausted, in bad need of water and food.
Temperatures in the area are now over 40-degree
Celsius every day. One 45-year-old man died
yesterday shortly after crossing the border. We
do not know now exactly of what, probably of
heat exhaustion.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Janowski says the refugee agency has sent another
700-tents and is purchasing other relief supplies from
local merchants. The agency also is airlifting
additional shelter material from its emergency stocks
in Copenhagen.
Mr. Janowski says a new camp at Amara Musa, near Lafa,
is full, but is being expanded to cope with the new
wave of refugees.
/// JANOWSKI ACT TWO ///
We may well exceed 50-thousand. We are already
getting prepared for more. We are rushing as
many supplies to the area as possible, even if
it is difficult. It is difficult to deploy
staff on the ground. To get a visa takes a few
days. It is difficult to get material from
Khartoum up to the area where the people arrive.
/// END ACT ///
The Eritrean government estimates 550-thousand people
have become internally displaced. U-N aid agencies
agree with that figure and warn the number of homeless
could go higher if fighting between Ethiopia and
Eritrea continues.
In response to the emergency, U-N aid agencies are
stepping up their relief efforts in Eritrea. Both the
World Food Program and U-N Children's Fund are sending
several planeloads of supplies to Eritrea this week.
(SIGNED)
NEB/LS/JWH/RAE
30-May-2000 08:59 AM EDT (30-May-2000 1259 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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