Ethiopia Facing Flood of S.Sudan Refugees

Ethiopia is facing a huge wave of refugees from South Sudan, where the specter of famine threatens to heap further misery on a people already blighted by civil war, the U.N.'s food aid agency warned on Wednesday.

"The numbers are increasing exponentially in a very short period of time," said Abdou Dieng, head of the World Food Program's Ethiopia operations.

More than 158,000 South Sudanese refugees have already crossed the border to reach camps in neighboring Ethiopia, according to U.N. figures released Wednesday.

At least 1,500 more are arriving every week, and the U.N. forecasts South Sudanese refugee numbers could double to 300,000 by the end of the year.

"The situation is not improving in South Sudan, so we expect that they will continue to come. If there is a famine in South Sudan, as many people think there will be, that will push more people to come into Ethiopia," he told reporters.

All told there are currently almost 570,000 refugees -- largely women and children -- in camps in the country.

Apart from the South Sudanese, most are from Somalia, which huge numbers fled amid conflict and a 2011 drought, and Eritrea, where mounting numbers are escaping the iron grip of the country's regime.

"The government has a policy that they call the 'open-door policy' for refugees. Ethiopia today is hosting one of the biggest refugee numbers, without talking too much about it," said Dieng.

The U.N. needs around $20 million (14.6 million euros) per month to help feed refugees in Ethiopia, but is facing a massive funding shortfall and fears that its coffers will be empty by October, he added.

South Sudan only gained its independence from Sudan three years ago after decades of fighting, and has been ravaged by ethnically-tinged conflict between rebels and the government since December.

The fighting has driven more than one million people from their homes, meaning that many farmers have missed the planting season.