The United Nations Refugee Agency says about 11,000 people from South Sudan have crossed into the Ethiopian town of Burubiey.

The UNHCR’s Senior Relations Officer for South Sudan, Tereza Ong’aro, told Eye Radio that the number of South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia has now reached 110,000.

She said humanitarian agencies are working with them to ensure that the refugees are settled.

“The refuges are being registered on arrival and they receive basic medical and nutritional care plus relief items at a reception center, which was opened last week by UNHCR and the Ethiopian administration for refugees. We are also working with the Ethiopian Red Cross, MSF, WFP, IOM and all these agencies are scaling up their responses to meet the surge in new arrivals”, she said.

Ong’aro said that most of the people fled from Nassir in Upper Nile State following recent clashes between government and SPLA in Opposition forces.

“The refugees appear to have walked across the border and, they also reported that thousand more people were on the South Sudan side. Many are on this side of the river waiting to cross the river on one of the few small ferry boats. And they also said that thousands more are fleeing Nasir, which is about 30 kilometers away”, said the UNHCR Senior Relations Officer.

Ong’aro said the major challenge the UNHCR is facing is lack of funding for providing basic services to the refugees.

She said the agency had appealed for 370 million U.S dollars for providing services to the refugees, but only 52 million of this amount has been received.

Ong’aro urged donors to provide additional funding as the number of refugees continues to increase.