ADDIS ABABA, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) released a joint response plan on Saturday which revealed Ethiopia needs 118 million U.S. dollars to support over 818,000 people displaced by communal conflicts in southern Ethiopia.
Ethnic violence involving ethnic Gedeos and ethnic Oromos ignited purportedly over a long running dispute over the utilization of resources along the shared borders of the two communities since April, has led to one of the worst humanitarian crises of recent times in Ethiopia.
The joint statement said the appeal prioritizes life-saving support for the coming six months for displaced people who are mostly settled with already food insecure relatives or residing in cramped public buildings.
The UN agency is currently working with officials from Southern regional state, home area of ethnic Gedeos and officials from Oromia regional state, home area of ethnic Oromos to rehabilitate and repatriate displaced people from both communities.
Ethiopia follows an ethnic federalism model, which has been credited with giving self-governance rights to the more than 80 ethnic groups that make up the country's estimated 100 million people.
However, critics say the ethnic federalism model magnifies ethnic diversity at the expense of national unity, leading to occasional ethnic tension and clashes.
