ERITREA: "Unprecedented" humanitarian crisis

NAIROBI, 25 July (IRIN) - The Eritrean government, meanwhile, reported to the UN that the war with Ethiopia had uprooted over one million people and caused an "unprecedented" humanitarian crisis, which had been exacerbated by drought.

"As a result of the (Ethiopian) invasion and concurrent drought in some parts of the country, there are at present 1,665,000 people - about half the resident population - who find themselves in a seriously difficult humanitarian emergency," said Teklemichael Woldegiorgis, deputy commissioner of the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC).

He said the majority comprised 975,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) of whom over 80 percent were children, women and elderly people. Others included 71,000 people expelled by Ethiopia, 95,000 who fled to neighbouring Sudan, 335,000 drought victims, and 325,000 in host communities adversely affected by the influx of IDPs.

He said at least 304 schools, 90 health centres, many mosques and churches, as well as telecommunications, transport, energy, and water installations had been destroyed, along with 50,000 mt of food stores.