Sudan braces for up to 200K fleeing fighting

NAIROBI, KENYA » Up to 200,000 refugees could pour into Sudan while fleeing the deadly conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, officials said Wednesday, while the first details are emerging of largely cut- off civilians under growing strain. Nearly 10,000 people have crossed the border, including some wounded in the fighting, and the flow is growing quickly.

“There are lots of children and women,” Al-Sir Khalid, the head of the refugee agency in Sudan’s Kassala province, told The Associated Press. “They are arriving very tired and exhausted. They are hungry and thirsty since they have walked long distances on rugged terrain.” Authorities are overwhelmed and the situation is deteriorating, he said.

Inside the Tigray region, long lines have appeared outside bread shops, and supplyladen trucks are stranded at its borders, the United Nations humanitarian chief in Ethiopia told the AP.