Save the Children is deeply worried about lone child refugees arriving separated from their parents from Ethiopia into Sudan, as they are at risk of exploitation and abuse. Their number could be in the hundreds, the child rights organisation warned today.

So far, 139 children who were separated from their parents or caregivers have been registered at just one of several entry points along the border, Save the Children said, so the total number could be far higher. In total at least 43,000 refugees have already crossed the border from Ethiopia to Sudan so far.

Save the Children emphasises the urgent need to reunite the children with their parents or legal caregivers, and has deployed a specialist to help set up a reunification system.