6 May 2014 - More than 11,000 people escaping violence in Nasir, Upper Nile State, have fled across the Ethiopian border in the last 72 hours, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said today.

The agency reported a sharp rise in the number of refugees fleeing conflict, after government forces captured the rebel stronghold over the weekend.

More than 70 per cent of the new arrivals were women and children, UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards added.

"The refugees tell us that more people are on their way, with many amassed on the South Sudanese side of the border waiting to cross the river on one of the few small ferry boats,” he said.

The refugees were being registered on arrival and given basic medical and nutritional care plus relief items at a reception centre opened last week by UNHCR and Ethiopia's Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA), he added.

"Thousands of people are still waiting to be registered, and we are moving staff from the nearby refugee camps to help, while giving priority to people with urgent health and nutrition needs,” Mr. Edwards said. “We are also working on flying additional staff and relief items to the area."

Mr. Edwards noted that registered refugees are being moved to Kule refugee camp, but it was fast approaching its maximum capacity of 40,000 refugees. Establishment of a new camp is underway to accommodate another 30,000 people, he said.

UNHCR and its partners, including ARRA and the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, were also scaling up their responses to meet the surge in new arrivals – some of them in urgent need of medical help – and to ease the crowded conditions, he added.

To assist movement of refugees from the border with Jonglei State to established camps, the International Organization for Migration is also increasing its capacity to transport people ahead of expected heavy rains.