The Ethiopian government has issued an urgent appeal for increased funding to meet the basic needs of refugees and host communities during a high-level dialogue.
Speaking at the dialogue on advancing refugee inclusion and support on Friday in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Ethiopia’s State Minister of Finance for Economic Cooperation Semereta Sewasew said underfunding has severely affected healthcare, education, and water provision to refugees and host communities in the country.”This underfunding should be urgently addressed through collaborative and solution-oriented approaches,” Sewasew said, adding that limited access to clean water makes refugees vulnerable to diseases.”The ongoing instability in the Horn of Africa region continues to generate new inflows of refugees, placing additional strain on the refugee handling system of Ethiopia, which came at a time when we are witnessing a decline in humanitarian funding,” the minister noted.
Teyiba Hassen, director general of the Refugees and Returnees Service of Ethiopia, also expressed concern over the impact of underfunding on refugees, noting that “funding reductions and uncertainties in critical lifesaving sectors are affecting not only refugees but also host communities that continue to bear the burden with limited support.” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi emphasized the importance of development-focused support at the event, calling for investment in roads, schools, health facilities, irrigation systems, and digital infrastructure that benefits both refugee and host communities. Ethiopia currently hosts nearly 1.1 million refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea, making the East African country one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in Africa, according to government figures. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
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