Addis Ababa July 8, 2021(Walta) – Tens of thousands of refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region are facing security risks and assistance shortfalls in camps in Sudan, according to a group of Western embassies and donors who have criticized the UN-led relief operation in a letter obtained by The New Humanitarian.
Addressed to the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, the three-page letter dated 17 June accuses the organization of a lack of leadership and failing to act on prior donor warnings about gaps and delays in providing aid at the camps.
The letter was shared with The New Humanitarian by an aid official working in Sudan also concerned about UNHCR’s management of the response. The New Humanitarian has confirmed the letter’s authenticity with two of the signatory governments.
Aid workers familiar with the relatively well-funded response said the unusual letter – which follows another that donors sent to UNHCR in January – is evidence of months of frustration. It seems to have prompted a new urgency in the UN’s operation in the camps. The signatories called on UNHCR to make immediate improvements ahead of the upcoming rainy season.
The letter charges that refugees lack safe and dignified sanitation facilities; are without sufficient access to health services; and are short of cooking fuel and grinding mills needed to process food provisions.
The alleged lack of services has left camp residents at risk of trafficking, armed recruitment, and sexual violence, according to the letter, which describes the situation as at a stage where “the safety, security, and dignity of refugees is at severe risk, and lives may be lost.”
Assadullah Nasrullah, a spokesperson for UNHCR in Sudan, said the agency has responded to the donors’ complaints – acknowledging challenges, explaining progress it says it has made and providing information on plans to strengthen the response.
“We take all feedback and criticism of our work extremely seriously, and we are sparing no effort to help and protect refugees, including under difficult circumstances,” Nasrullah said, describing the influx of refugees since November as “massive and unexpected”.
According to all Africa, two senior aid officials working in the camps who spoke to The New Humanitarian over the past two weeks described the response as the worst they had seen in their careers. Both officials – and a third who also spoke to The New Humanitarian – said they were aware of the donor letter, though none were willing to be named to preserve working relationships with UNHCR and the donors.