Emergency Assistance to Displaced Populations in Eastern Sudan - UNHCR 2009

Sudan is the largest country in Africa with nine international borders. Many of its neighbours are facing humanitarian crises. Years of conflict between two of its eastern neighbours Ethiopia and Eritrea has resulted in an influx of refugees to Sudan. The three states of eastern Sudan now host an estimated 150 000 - 170 000 mostly Eritrean refugees who are still unable to return home and remain reliant on the international community to meet their basic needs. With CIDA assistance the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is helping to meet the basic humanitarian needs of Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan. Activities focus on providing access to shelter health care and clean water and sanitation facilities and are expected to help reduce the strain on already poor and under-serviced Sudanese host communities.