Japan has pledged more than $11 million to assist refugees and the host communities in Ethiopia.

More than 250,000 South Sudanese living in the Gambela region are expected to benefit from the assistance.

Kazuhiro Suzuki, Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, says the money will also be used to relocate refugees from flooded areas to higher grounds.

“There is an urgent need to accommodate the increasing refugees and address the damage inflicted on their camps due to flooding. The building of the new camp is indeed the urgent need,” Amb Suzuki said.

The UNHCR says there are nearly 700,000 refugees in Ethiopia.

“Refugees are visitors that don’t say when they are coming and they are visitors that don’t say when they will go. We are today talking about 700 thousand refugees. When they would leave we don’t know,” said Bornwell Kantande, UNHCR Deputy Representative.

“So, we still count on the support of the government and our donors to help them prepare for the time when they can go back home.”

Mr Suzuki also called upon the warring parties to stop violence and sign a peace deal soon to enable the refugees return home.