UN officials to investigate reports of exodus from western Ethiopia into Sudan

The United Nations refugee and food relief agencies have sent staff to the town of Pochalla in southern Sudan to assess reports that thousands of Ethiopian and Sudanese Anuaks have fled there to escape inter-ethnic violence in western Ethiopia.

Officials from the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) will spend two days in Pochalla investigating the health and humanitarian needs of the people who have gathered there.

The agencies' move follows reports from local authorities and the United States-based Christian charity World Relief - the only non-governmental organization (NGO) operating in Pochalla - that 15,000 Anuak people have reached the town recently.

Last month eight people, including three officials from an Ethiopian government agency, were ambushed in their vehicle in Gambella. The attack was blamed on the Anuak community, sparking a recent round of deadly reprisals against Anuaks, according to UNHCR.