GENEVA, Switzerland, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The United Nations refugee agency said it will help over 300 more people who fled into Ecuador from conflict in Colombia.
The U.N High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday it is distributing emergency items and food rations to more than 300 people who fled the latest spasm of over four decades of conflict involving government forces, leftist guerrillas, rightist paramilitaries and criminal gangs that has driven 3 million Colombians from their homes.
"So far, we have registered 315 people, more than half of them children," UNHCR Spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis told reporters Tuesday. The new arrivals said many more could be on the way.
"Many in the group are still very visibly shocked and scared. They say they fled after an irregular armed group killed the local schoolteacher and threatened other people," she said. "Local authorities on the Colombian side of the border report fighting in the area."
Those from the Colombian village of Tallambi lived on the opposite bank of the river that forms the border, and a large number are Awa indigenous people, the U.N. agency said. UNHCR deployed a team of humanitarian workers to the Ecuadorian village of Chical Sunday to distribute aid in coordination with partner organizations.
The newcomers have been staying with local families but the housing capacity of the small community is fast reaching its limit, the agency said. UNHCR and the local authorities are getting a shelter ready in case more people cross over in the coming days.
