UNHCR chief, Ogata, visiting Sudan

The United Nations high Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, has praised Sudan for hosting thousand of refugees for decades including the latest arrivals from Eritrea.

Mrs Ogata is visiting camps in eastern Sudan set up for Eritreans fleeing the recent fighting with Ethiopia.

She said her organisation had already sent four plane loads of non-food relief to the area and that a fifth was on its way.

According to UNHCR more than seventy-thousand Eritrean refugees have arrived in Sudan in the past few weeks -- adding to the more than half a million refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia who fled to Sudan during previous wars between the two countries. Mrs Ogata will tomorrow visit Kassala for a tour of refugee camps near the border with Eritrea.

She is on a six-nation tour of Eastern and Central Africa to assess the impact of regional wars and will also visit Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service