Qatar Charity (QC) has carried out the first relief intervention to shelter Ethiopian refugees fleeing the conflict in the Tigray region to Sudan.
Qatar Charity’s field teams have distributed urgent shelter aid to the refugees going through challenging conditions in the Umm Rakobeh camp in Qallabat, eastern Sudan.
The relief aid included 100 large tents and 2,600 blankets in the first phase of the intervention, which will continue in the nearer future.
Abdul Hafeez Mohamed Khalil, representative of the Commission for Refugees Sudan and director of Gedaref Housing, praised QC's rapid response and urgent shelter assistance for the refugees at a time when it is difficult to build temporary housing units for the large number of families that crossed into Gedaref.
Khalil thanked the people in Qatar and QC for the quick response, noting that the refugee influx is greater than the capacity of the state and government at the central level. He also added that the number of refugees who had arrived in Sudan until the afternoon of Tuesday had reached 41,487.
Hussein Karmash, director of Qatar Charity's Sudan office, said QC has always been at the forefront of international organisations in the field of relief by delivering urgent shelter and food aid to the needy in many humanitarian emergencies, like the current Ethiopian refugee crisis.
The refugees need more urgent aid in the areas of water, environmental health and medical services, revealed Abbas Idris Mohamed, executive director of the Eastern Qallabat region in the state of Gedaref, which has the refugee camps.
He applauded Qatar Charity for extending assistance, hoping for its continued support to overcome this humanitarian ordeal.
Many Ethiopian families and refugee women expressed delight with the urgent Qatari support, which provided tents and blankets that give them warmth in winter, QC said in a statement.
QC’s intervention came after United Nations reports indicated that the number of Ethiopian refugees fleeing to Sudan reached 40,000, while the number is expected to rise to 200,000 within six months. Meanwhile, the Sudanese authorities announced that the number of Ethiopian refugees who crossed into the Sudanese land is greater than their capabilities.
