IOM Ethiopia has moved some 63,000 South Sudanese refugees from the South Sudan border to camps inside Ethiopia since violence broke out between South Sudan’s government and opposition forces in December 2013.

In Ethiopia’s Gambella province, IOM boats have moved up to 450 people a day from Akobo-Tergol. Road convoys have moved up to another 2,000 people a day from Pagak. Destinations include Fugnido, Leitchor and Kule (former Tierkidi) refugee camps, where the refugees are provided with shelter and food.

The camps are quickly reaching their maximum capacity. Leitchor, which is located in a flood zone, faces additional challenges, and aid agencies and the Ethiopian authorities are racing to identify new sites, while asylum seekers continue to pour into the country through Pagak and Akobo-Tergol.

Most of the refugees are women and children. Many have walked for seven to 10 days to reach the border, living on wild fruit, and are destitute. Many families have also been separated in the chaos. 

Ojulu Obutha, 36, a community leader in Akobo town in South Sudan, was separated from his wife and children when they crossed over to Akobo-Tergol on December 18th. He remained behind, hoping that the situation would calm down. But security deteriorated and he decided to follow them to Gambella.

“There was fighting in the Denaka area and when they (the rebels) came back, they started looting Akobo town... A friend and I were the last Agnuaks to leave,” he says.

He hopes to be reunited with his wife soon. “When the fighting started, a lot of women crossed over to Akobo-Tergol on foot. I don’t know where she is, but I hope that she is waiting for me in Fugnido,” he said, after registering with IOM, a day before his relocation by boat.

For more information please contact

Alemayehu Seife-Selassie
IOM Addis Ababa
Email:  salemayehu@iom.int
Tel: +251911 63 90 82