United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, has started relocating some stranded 15,000 South Sudanese refugees from Matar Way Station in western Ethiopia to Pugnido refugee camp by boat.
In a statement, 125 refugees were expected to arrive at the camp 300 kilometers away the way station on Tuesday.
The statement recorded 29 refugees with special needs including blind people, pregnant women, nursing mothers and the elderly who cannot travel by boat.
It added that people with special needs would be flown on a UNHCR-chartered helicopter.
Pugnido refugee camp already hosts 45,000 refugees, majority from South Sudan.
The refugees started the two-day journey by sailing on Baro River in a motorized boat from Matar Way Station.
The statement indicated that 191 thousand South Sudanese sought refuge in Ethiopia’s Gambella region since conflict outbreak in mid-December 2013 in the country.
Ethiopia is currently Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country, with more than 600,000 refugees.