At least 1,469 Sudanese who fled recent fighting in their home country have registered as refugees in Ethiopia, an Ethiopian official has said.
Speaking to journalists on Friday Meles Alem, Spokesman for Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), said 7,726 individuals from 61 countries have been evacuated from Sudan through Ethiopia so far.
The MoFA Spokesman also said the Ethiopian government doesn’t have plans to close its border with Sudan and will accept Sudanese and other nationals seeking refuge in the country.
Meles also said Ethiopia has so far given 75 over-flight permissions for countries trying to evacuate their citizens from Sudan. France was given 13 over flight permissions, while U.S. and Spain were each given 10 overflight permissions.
He also said even though it’s hard to put a correct figure, it’s thought that there are around one million people of Ethiopian origin living in Sudan.
Since mid-April major cities in Sudan have turned into battle fields as fighting rages on between Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), the country’s national army.
Sudan has been suffering a political crisis since Sudanese army chief, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan declared martial law in October 2021 and dissolved the previous joint military-civilian government.
MG/abj/APA