ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia has received 103,263 new refugees in the first ten months of 2017, pushing the total number of refugees living in the country to 889,071, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) revealed on Wednesday.
Kisut Gebreegziabher, Assistant Communication Officer at UNHCR, told Xinhua the refugee arrivals in 2017 are dominated by South Sudanese numbering 73,857, followed by Eritreans at 20,700 and Somalis at 6,600.
"Refugees from South Sudan fled to Ethiopia to escape civil war, Eritrean refugees mentioned indefinite military conscription and human rights violations for their flight while Somalis mentioned a combination of conflict and drought for fleeing to Ethiopia," he said.
"The South Sudanese refugees' total population has reached 419,000, close to half of total refugee population in Ethiopia," he said, adding the South Sudanese refugees are mainly sheltered in Gambella and Benishangul Gumuz regional states.
Gebreegziabher further said UNHCR is giving basic social services to the 889,071 refugees living in 26 refugee camps in six regional states of Ethiopia. The social services in the refugee camps include education, health, water and sanitation, food, nutrition support and community empowerment.
