Flooded Ethiopia refugee camp to be closed: Group

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Doctors Without Borders says a camp in Ethiopia hosting 40,000 refugees from South Sudan is flooded from heavy rains and that it must be abandoned.

The medical charity said in a statement Friday that the Lietchuor refugee camp in Ethiopia’s Gambella region resembles “a lake dotted with islands.”

It said newly constructed mud huts for the refugees are completely flooded and that most patients seen in the camp are suffering from malaria and respiratory infections.

After violence broke out in South Sudan last December, tens of thousands of people fled to neighboring countries, including Uganda and Ethiopia.

About 875,000 of 1.3 million internally displaced South Sudanese are also living in flood-prone areas, according to the U.N.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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