Thursday, November 22, 2012
An estimated 8.52 million people are displaced in 12 countries in Eastern Africa as at the end of September, mainly due to internal armed conflicts and insecurity, a UN humanitarian agency said in a report released on Thursday.
The report issued in Nairobi by UN Office fro Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said out of these, 2.04 million people are refugees and 6.47 million are internally displaced persons (IDPs).
"Starting August, the coverage of this report has been extended to include Sudan and South Sudan, which as of the end of September 2012 were host to an estimated 1.94 million IDPs and 349,000 refugees," OCHA said in the report.
It said the internal displacements in the region are largely due to protracted conflict and insecurity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. The DRC, Somalia and Sudan host the largest number of IDPs.
"The rise in the refugee populations across the region resulted in the opening of new refugee camps and centers in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda," OCHA said in its March 31- Sept. 31 report.
Kenya hosts the largest number of refugees; the majority of whom are from Somalia and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has continued to facilitate the repatriation of the Burundian and Angolan caseloads in Tanzania and the DRC respectively.
The report comes after Kenya's Parliament passed the Prevention, Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons and Affected Communities Bill, 2012 (IDP Bill) which seeks to provide legal protection for citizens displaced in Kenya due to violence, disaster or development projects.
The law provides for a rights-based response to internal displacement and imposes an obligation on everyone involved in the protection and assistance to IDPs to act in accordance with the Great Lakes Protocol and International Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
"IDPs in Kenya have for a long time encountered deplorable living conditions in camps and lack of compensation for lost property and livelihoods. Adequate funding and goodwill remains key in ensuring that the provisions of the IDP Bill are implemented effectively," the report said.
The report said the government has also made significant progress towards addressing internal displacement in Kenya.
"This includes the adoption of the IDP Bill; the establishment of an institutional focal point on internal displacement; and facilitation of return and resettlement of the post-2007 election violence (PEV) IDPs," it said.
The PEV resulted in displacement of 663,921 people. Of these, 350,000 people sought refuge in 118 camps in Kenya, 313,921 people were integrated in communities countrywide, while 640 households took refuge in Uganda.
"So far, 424 households (about 2,120 people) have returned to Kenya, leaving a balance of 216 households (about 1,080 people) still in Uganda," OCHA said.
Inter-communal conflicts, especially in north-eastern Kenya and Tana River County in south-eastern Kenya also resulted in significant internal displacements.
In August, more than 12,000 people were displaced and about 116 people killed in Tana River district during what was widely seen as a dispute over water and land between members of the Pokomo and Orma communities.
However, some analysts linked this to political differences following disagreements over the ongoing boundary demarcation process where some villages and locations have been shifted into different constituencies, against the wishes of the residents.
The report said some IDPs result from various difficult climatic conditions such as flooding, drought and landslides.
"These IDPs are usually temporary and their estimates were not readily available. DRC, Somalia and Sudan host the highest number of IDPs at 2.43 million, 1.36 million and 1.77 million people, respectively," it said.
Since April, frequent and widespread fighting in the eastern DRC has pushed thousands to leave their homes, especially in North Kivu Province.
An estimated 400,000 people were displaced internally in the DRC, while another 80,000 people were compelled to flee into Burundi, Uganda, and Rwanda in the past six months.
According to the report, IDP figures in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia remain unchanged as no new verification of the population was undertaken during the reporting period.
Significant progress has however been made in the protection and resettlement of IDPs in Kenya and Uganda.
According to the UN report, the largest number of refugees in the region is hosted by Kenya, mostly in Dadaab and Kakuma in northern region.
"By the end of September, Kakuma refugee camp surpassed its capacity. UNHCR Kenya strengthened its capacity in Dadaab area by opening the Alinjugur office in May to host Somali refugees. Food insecurity and generalized insecurity resulting from the protracted conflict in Somalia has forced more than one million Somalis to live in prolonged refugee conditions across the region, including in Yemen."
According to OCHA, the security situation in the DRC and Somalia remains volatile hence a high likelihood of an increase in the refugee influx from these two countries.
The report said Ethiopia and Tanzania each host more than 300, 000 registered refugees. In August, Tanzania declared the end of refugee status for 37,582 Burundians, and has set a deadline for their repatriation by Dec. 31.
The report said in the DRC, a cessation clause for Angolan refugees entered into force on June 30, it said, adding that the UNHCR has in effect resumed a voluntary repatriation for Angolan refugees displaced during the war of independence from Portugal and subsequent civil war that ended in 2002.
"With the rising number of refugees across the region, a number of new refugee sites and camps were established including in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda," the report said.