Internally displaced people returning to their homes following the end of fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile state between the Sudanese army and fighters allied to Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the dominant force in newly independent South Sudan. (Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah, September 2011)
Internal displacement in
Africa
Burundi p. 41; Central African Republic p. 42; Chad p. 43; Côte d’Ivoire p. 44; Democratic Republic of the Congo p. 45; Ethiopia p. 46; Kenya p. 47; Liberia p. 48; Niger p. 48; Nigeria p. 49; Senegal p. 50; Somalia p. 50; South Sudan p. 51; Sudan p. 52; Uganda p. 53; Zimbabwe p. 54
In 2011, IDMC monitored internal displacement in 21 subSaharan African countries. There were an estimated 9.7 million IDPs in these countries, representing over a third of the world’s total internally displaced population. Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Somalia continued to be the countries with the largest internally displaced populations in Africa. The number of IDPs in Africa in 2011 was down from 11.1 million a year earlier, continuing a sustained downward trend since 2004 when there were over 13 million. Violent struggles between groups vying for access to natural
resources, land and political representation and power were among the root causes of most of these displacements. These struggles were manifested either by armed conflicts pitting governments and their armed forces against armed opposition groups, or by inter-communal violence. While governments or associated armed groups were the main agents of displacement in the majority of situations, the role of armed opposition groups in forcing people to flee was also significant. Armed criminal groups also caused displacement, especially in areas where government security forces had little reach or capacity to combat banditry.
36
Global Overview 2011
Senegal 10,000 –40,000
Niger Undetermined
Chad 126,000
Sudan At least 2,200,000
Eritrea Up to 10,000 Ethiopia Undetermined South Sudan Undetermined Somalia 1,460,000 Kenya About 250,000 Uganda About 30,000 Rwanda Undetermined Burundi 78,800
Liberia Undetermined Côte d´Ivoire At least 247,000
CAR 105,000 Togo Undetermined Nigeria Undetermined Republic of the Congo Up to 7,800 Angola Up to 20,000
DRC 1,710,000
In 2011 as in previous years, elections were a context of new displacement. A significant number of people remained internally displaced four years after election-related violence in Kenya, while presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and DRC led to internal displacement during the year. Although there were some huge IDP camps and settlements in different countries across the region – the huge settlement between Mogadishu and Afgooye in Somalia hosted a third of that country’s internally displaced population – the majority of IDPs were living among host communities in areas where they remained unidentified.
Zimbabwe Undetermined
New movements in 2011
Despite the overall decline in IDP numbers, massive new displacements were reported in a number of countries. In Côte d’Ivoire, up to a million people were displaced by fighting which followed the presidential elections of late 2010. Some 350,000 people were newly displaced by inter-communal violence in South Sudan, and at least 168,000 by the ongoing conflicts and violence in eastern areas of DRC. More than 100,000 people had to flee their homes in DRC, Somalia and Sudan. Other countries in Africa which saw new displacement in 2011 included the Central African Republic (CAR), Kenya and Nigeria. In West Africa, disputed elections occasioned massive displacement in 2011. In Côte d’Ivoire, after both Alessane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo claimed victory in December 2010, a battle for national control between their respective supporters caused a four-month wave of new displacement. In Nigeria, violence which broke out after the results of the presidential elections were released led to the displacement of some 65,000 people across the northern states. In both countries, internal displacement also followed inter-communal disputes over land and access to economic and political power, and attacks by non-state armed groups.
Sudan was Africa’s largest country until July 2011, when it divided in two with the independence of South Sudan. While the separation itself was relatively peaceful, subsequent outbreaks of violence in the southern states of Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei, in the disputed border area of Abyei, and in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states, all led to largescale displacement. Although the citizenship status of 700,000 southerners living in Khartoum remained to be determined, the combined internally displaced populations of the two countries still made for the largest internal displacement situation in Africa at the end of 2011. DRC remained the country with most IDPs on the continent after Sudan. In eastern DRC, attacks by armed groups and military operations against them continued to cause the displacement of tens of thousands of people in 2011. Violence in various parts of the country, related to the elections held in November, also led to small-scale displacement at the end of the year. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) continued to displace civilians in CAR, DRC and South Sudan, despite international military efforts to combat this group. Over the years, almost 440,000 people had been displaced in the three countries as a result of their activities. In 2011, the Horn of Africa experienced one of the most severe food crises of the past 60 years. Massive population movements across the region were linked to the ongoing drought but also to the continuing conflict in south and central Somalia. Incursions into northern Kenya by armed groups from Ethiopia and Somalia also caused new displacement, while the sub-
Internal displacement in Africa
37
sequent entry of Kenyan armed forces into southern Somalia reportedly led to further displacement, as people fled in fear of fighting between the Kenyan army and Al-Shabaab forces. There was also localised displacement in Ethiopia and northern Kenya as ethnic groups fought for access to scarce resources. Some 1.5 million people returned to their home areas during the year, with the highest numbers of returns reported in DRC, Côte d’Ivoire, South Sudan and Uganda. In DRC, some 800,000 people managed to return home between mid-2010 and mid-2011, but few returned in the second half of 2011, due in part to the climate of uncertainty which the approaching elections engendered. At the end of 2011, the UN estimated that 360,000 southerners had returned to South Sudan from the north since October 2010. However, they returned to locations near border areas with virtually no services or economic opportunities to support their reintegration. In eastern Chad, improved relations between Sudan and Chad contributed to greater security and enabled tens of thousands of IDPs to return to their homes in border areas. In northern Uganda, following six years of improved security, most of the 1.8 million IDPs who had been displaced into camps at the height of the conflict between government forces and the LRA had returned to their area of origin or settled in new locations by 2011. There was, as ever, little information on the number of IDPs who had integrated in the place they fled to, or on those who had settled elsewhere in their country. However, a survey in north-east CAR led by the Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS) revealed that 23 per cent of IDPs had integrated locally and shared a similar situation to host communities, which were also affected by conflict and insecurity and unable to access their fields for farming.
affected areas. By September the famine in Somalia was threatening the lives of many of the 1.5 million people displaced within the country by conflict. Malnutrition rates among internally displaced populations in Mogadishu and Afgooye were up to three times the critical emergency threshold. The lack of access of humanitarians to displacement-affected areas in countries including DRC, Sudan, South Sudan and Côte d’Ivoire prevented vulnerable groups from obtaining vital assistance. The situation in Somalia worsened as both the government and insurgents continued to obstruct the access of vulnerable groups including IDPs to emergency assistance, and to divert aid for their own ends. There were also reports of certain groups of IDPs facing additional hardships on the basis of their age, sex, ethnicity or particular disabilities. In Uganda and Burundi, older people, widows and people with disabilities or ill health remained displaced in camps or settlements as they could not manage the return process on their own or had no land to go back to. Many widows and orphaned girls had their land taken over by family members. Displaced members of the Batwa ethnic group in Burundi, who faced widespread discrimination, continued to endure particularly difficult conditions, apart from other IDPs.
Prospects for durable solutions
Across the region, many areas from which IDPs had fled continued to be insecure. Communal tensions and barriers to the recovery of land and property also made it impossible for many IDPs to rebuild their lives there. In Burundi, for example, some IDPs could still not return because ethnic tensions continued to simmer and their land had been occupied. At the end of the year, both Sudan and newly independent South Sudan were facing enormous challenges, such as agreement on the distribution of oil revenues, the demarcation of their shared border and the water and grazing rights of nomadic groups who move through border areas. The uncertainty and insecurity this caused meant that durable solutions remained out of reach for shorter- and longer-term IDPs. Insecurity also prevented many IDPs in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria from achieving durable solutions. The conflicts and violence in these countries and the conflict farther north in Libya severely disrupted migrant labour flows and reduced the coping capacities of many households which already faced food shortages because of increasing drought in the Sahel. The movement of fighters and militia members from Libya and Côte d’Ivoire, and also mercenaries from Liberia, further threatened the stability of countries across West Africa. The lack of governance and government capacity presented a major barrier to durable solutions in several countries. In many displacement-affected areas of Somalia, DRC and CAR, IDPs received no assistance or protection from absent governments. A study of IDPs in Yei, South Sudan, indicated that feeble rule of law helped to perpetuate the economic and political marginalisation of people who had been displaced.
Protection concerns
IDPs in Africa continued to face threats to their security and dignity in 2011. In Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and elsewhere, parties to the conflict attacked and killed civilians in addition to the other human rights violations and abuses which they committed. In Somalia, combatants reportedly attacked IDP settlements and recruited children from them into their ranks. In Darfur, fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and armed groups, inter-tribal violence and criminal activities led to the death of more than 600 civilians, including fleeing IDPs, between January and October alone. Gender-based violence continued to threaten the physical security and integrity of IDPs both during and after their flight. All parties to the conflict in Somalia perpetrated sexual violence against internally displaced women in settlements. In Côte d’Ivoire, women and girls fleeing the violence were subjected to sexual violence perpetrated on the basis of their political or ethnic identity; the Protection Cluster recorded nearly 660 reported cases of gender-based violence at the height of the conflict between January and May. Protracted conflict and displacement coupled with recurring droughts contributed to high levels of food insecurity, particularly in the Horn of Africa and in the Sahel. This threatened the lives of many of Africa’s IDPs and others in displacement-
Responses to internal displacement
African states and regional organisations have actively sought to improve and standardise their responses to internal
38
Global Overview 2011
displacement. In Burundi, developments in the year including a nationwide profiling exercise and a new code simplifying land acquisition gave IDPs a better prospect of achieving a durable solution. In Chad, where IDPs believed that it would not be safe to return, the government and international partners started to promote other settlement options, and considered converting remaining IDP camps into “locally integrated communities”. By the end of 2011 two countries, namely Angola and Liberia, had developed laws on internal displacement based on the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Incorporating the Guiding Principles into domestic legislation and policies was an obligation for the 11 member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) as parties to the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region and to its Protocol on the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons. The same obligation will be borne by states party to the AU Convention on the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (the Kampala Convention) once it enters into force. By the end of 2011, 33 out of the 53 AU member states had signed the Kampala Convention; eight of the 15 ratifications required for it to enter into force had been deposited with the AU, and a further six states had completed their internal processes enabling them to ratify the Convention. The international response to internal displacement varied widely. In some countries including Nigeria, mechanisms to respond to internal displacement were limited to development
cooperation, while in others the cluster system for coordinating humanitarian emergencies was fully implemented. By the end of 2011, the cluster system had been implemented in Burundi, CAR, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Two new peacekeeping missions were deployed to Africa following South Sudan’s independence in 2011: UNMISS was deployed in South Sudan and UNISFA in Abyei. Other international peacekeeping missions included MONUSCO in DRC, UNAMID in Darfur, UNOCI in Côte d’Ivoire and UNMIL in Liberia. Donor commitments to protect IDPs and also to help countries make an early transition to recovery were limited, with the protection and early recovery sectors underfunded in all the appeals issued for African countries in 2011. In Chad, the early recovery sector had received no funding by December 2011, despite the intentions of the government and the humanitarian community to shift from relief to recovery efforts. As development agencies replaced humanitarians in countries including Burundi, Liberia and Uganda, IDPs’ specific vulnerabilities remained to be addressed by wider development programmes.
Country Angola
Number of IDPs (rounded) Up to 20,000
Government figures
UN figures 19,566 (UN-TCU, November 2005) 78,800 (December 2011) 105,206 (OCHA, December 2011) 126,000 (OCHA, December 2011) 519,100 (UNHCR, June 2010); 247,000 (UNHCR, December 2011)
Other figures
Comments UN figure referred to IDPs in Cabinda province. No recent figure is available. Most of the remaining IDPs are in the northern and central provinces.
Burundi Central African Republic Chad Côte d’Ivoire
78,800 105,000
78,800 (December 2011)
126,000 At least 247,000
The UNHCR estimate does not refer to IDPs displaced following the 2002 conflict. It is not clear how many of those displaced in 2002 and 2003 were able to achieve durable solutions. The largest numbers of IDPs were in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. Estimates were approximate, as most IDPs were with host families and not registered, many in areas difficult to reach. According to the government and UN agencies, all camp-based IDPs had resettled or returned by March 2008, but UN and other sources indicated that 10,000 may still be living with hosts. There was no information on the situation of IDPs who had returned or settled elsewhere. No comprehensive surveys of IDPs have been carried out, the exception being in March 2009, when inter-ethnic conflict between the Garre of the Somali region and the Boran of the Oromiya region displaced an estimated 160,000 people. Assessments at that time were jointly conducted by UN agencies and NGOs with the participation of the government.
Democratic Republic of the Congo Eritrea
1,710,000
1,710,000 (OCHA, September 2011)
Up to 10,000
Ethiopia
Undetermined
Internal displacement in Africa
39
Country Kenya
Number of IDPs (rounded) About 250,000
Government figures 5,000 households
UN figures
Other figures
Comments The estimate includes people still displaced by the 2007 post-election violence who remain in camps or among hosts, and those still displaced by earlier episodes of violence and new violence in northern parts of the country. The UN has carried out no country-wide assessment of the number. The government has reported that most IDPs have either returned or resettled. Its estimate refers only to people displaced by the 2007 post-election violence.
Liberia
Undetermined
About 23,000 (UNHCR, July 2007)
UNHCR estimate was of people believed still to be in former IDP camps in 2007. The government had already reported that all IDPs had achieved durable solutions.
Niger Nigeria
Undetermined Undetermined 1,210,000 (National Commission for Refugees, September 2007); 80,000 (NCFR, June 2009); 370,000 (National Emergency Management Agency, 2011); 1,000,000 (NCFR in USDoS, April 2011) 7,800 (2006) Up to 7,800 (OCHA, October 2009) 24,000 (UNICEF, February 2010)
11,000 (IRIN, December 2007) No comprehensive survey on internal displacement has been conducted and there are no mechanisms to monitor durable solutions. Most estimates only include people who have sought shelter at temporary IDP camps.
Republic of the Congo
Up to 7,800
There has been no assessment of the number of IDPs since 2006, and the UN reported no change to the government figures in its Displaced Populations Report of October 2009. 40,000 (ICRC, March 2010); between 10,000 and 40,000 (USDoS, April 2011) Unclear if people resettled in new “villages” in the early 2000s have found durable solutions. There have been no exercises to enable reliable estimates of the number of IDPs.
Rwanda Senegal
Undetermined 10,000 – 40,000
Somalia
1,460,000
1,460,000 (OCHA/UNHCR, December 2010) 350,000 (OCHA, 2011)
Estimate based on population movement tracking system of UNHCR and partners. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. UN estimate includes only those newly displaced in 2011. There is no information on the number remaining displaced from earlier years, including those who were still displaced in the north. This figure includes: (1) Darfur: 1,900,000 IDPs (includes 80,000 newly displaced in 2011, 45,000 IDP returns in 2011); (2) Blue Nile: 66,000 IDPs; and (3) South Kordofan: 200,000 IDPs (includes 35,000 newly displaced in 2011 who fled to Khartoum). Sources: OCHA, 2011 Humanitarian Snapshot, 7 December 2011; OCHA, UN and Partners Work Plan 2012, 9 December 2011.
South Sudan
Undetermined
Sudan
At least 2,200,000
2,166,000 (OCHA, December 2011)
Togo Uganda
Undetermined About 30,000
10,000 (2008)
1,500 (OCHA, November 2006) 30,000 (UNHCR, Decenber 2011)
The UNHCR figure does not include IDPs in urban areas, or in Uganda’s Karamoja region. In addition, many of the hundreds of thousands of former IDPs who have now returned to their home areas are yet to achieve a durable solution. No comprehensive surveys of IDPs have been carried out, and a significant number have been displaced more than once.
Zimbabwe
Undetermined
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Global Overview 2011
Burundi
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index 78,800 0.9% 1993 800,000 (1999) 0 Armed conflict, generalised violence 185
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Rwanda
Bujumbura
Tanzania
In 2011, 78,800 IDPs were living in some 120 settlements in Burundi, most of them in the north and centre of the country. The majority of IDPs were ethnic Tutsi who had been displaced by inter-communal violence which broke out after the 1993 coup and the fighting between government forces and rebel groups which followed. There has been no new displacement since 2008, when the last rebel group laid down its arms following a peace agreement with the government. Like the rest of the population of the third-least-developed country in the world, IDPs are often extremely poor. Burundi is the least-urbanised country in the world, and the homes and land of most Burundians are scattered across the hilly countryside; IDPs also live in rural areas, but in more concentrated settlements numbering from a few hundred to several thousand people. Few of them have secure tenure of the small plots they live on in these settlements. Many IDPs still commuted in 2011 to their places of origin to cultivate their land; the older and sick among them often struggled to do so, as the fields could be several hours walk away from their settlement. Because of the distance, it was also impossible for IDPs to raise livestock or protect their crops from theft. Many widows and orphaned girls had had their land taken over by family members. Displaced members of the Batwa ethnic group, who are widely discriminated against, generally did not own land prior to their displacement and were living in particularly difficult conditions, in huts with leaf roofing set apart from other IDPs. The Ministry of National Solidarity, Refugee Return and Social Reintegration is responsible for supporting the reintegration of IDPs and returnees. In March 2010, the government adopted a “socio-economic reintegration strategy for people affected by the conflict” and set up a technical working group to develop a policy on durable solutions for IDPs. The group, comprised of government ministries, international partners and a civil society representative, conducted in 2011 a comprehensive survey of IDPs in settlements to inform the government’s work on durable solutions for IDPs. The survey found that of the 78,800 IDPs who were still seeking durable solutions, 85 per cent wanted to integrate locally, whereas fewer than eight per cent wanted to return to their hills of origin and the same small percentage wanted to be resettled elsewhere in the country. Thus the overwhelming majority of IDPs wish to remain where the authorities settled them years ago during the conflict; however the ownership of the land on which some of the IDP
settlements lie was being disputed in 2011. The National Commission for Land and Other Possessions (Commission Nationale des Terres et autres Biens or CNTB), a government body set up to find solutions for people who lost their possessions due to the conflict, was working to solve land disputes on around 30 IDP settlements, following applications by people claiming to own the land. Developments in 2011 could give IDPs a greater chance of achieving a durable solution. A new comprehensive land code enacted in August offers rural communities a more flexible and appropriate process for ensuring security of tenure, and could therefore help IDPs certify their land, regardless of whether they return, integrate locally or settle elsewhere. A national villagisation programme started in 2011, under which some of the population is expected to move into villages so that land use is rationalised and access to basic services improved. The programme could offer opportunities to IDPs as well as to repatriated refugees if it includes a stream for “vulnerable people”. Burundi has ratified the Great Lakes Pact and signed the Kampala Convention in 2009; however it had not ratified the Convention by the end of 2011.
Internal displacement in Africa
41
Sudan Chad
Central African Republic
South Sudan
R Quick facts
Number of IDPs 105,000 2.3% 2005 212,000 (2007) 22,180 Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations 179 Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year)
Bangui Cameroon Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo
New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index
Six per cent of the 4.5 million citizens of the Central African Republic (CAR) were either internally displaced or living as refugees in neighbouring countries in 2011. In December, the UN estimated the number of IDPs at 105,000, including about 22,000 people who were newly displaced during the year, either in the south-east of the country by attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) or in the north-east by fighting between rebels of the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (Convention des patriotes pour la justice et la paix or CPJP) and the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (Union des forces démocratiques pour le rassemblement or UFDR). At the end of the year, the LRA had displaced more than 26,000 people in CAR since 2008. Armed conflict broke out in 2005 between the government of President François Bozizé and armed opposition groups, including the CPJP, UFDR and the People’s Army for the Restoration of Democracy (Armée populaire pour la restauration de la démocratie or APRD), who were seeking greater political representation and a share of power. The fighting lasted until mid-2008, causing the displacement of 300,000 people, either within CAR or across the border into neighbouring Cameroon and Chad. Displacement was also caused by criminal groups known as coupeurs de route who took advantage of the security vacuum left by badly equipped, badly trained and often absent government forces; these groups were still active at the end of 2011. 2011 was marked by important national and international commitments that could bring stability to CAR. President François Bozizé was elected to a third term in office in January. The government signed an agreement in June with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Uganda, to deploy a joint military force against the LRA managed by the AU, and in October the USA deployed 100 military advisors to CAR to support this objective. In June the government and the CPJP signed a ceasefire agreement. Other events could have a positive impact on the protection of IDPs. In August the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants commenced; the UN signed action plans with APRD and CPJP in October and November on ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers; and in December the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the Integrated Office for Peacebuilding in CAR (BINUCA) by a year. However, despite these developments, security in CAR
remained fragile in 2011. Fighting in the north-east between CPJP and UFDR increased the risk of a resurgence of conflict, while the lack of funds to complete the DDR of former combatants and much-needed security sector reform also put the peace process at risk. Meanwhile, the government’s inability to control its territory made CAR a base for foreign armed groups including the LRA and the Chadian Popular Front for Recovery (Front populaire pour le redressement or FPR) in the north-west. The government was in the process of adopting a national IDP policy, but it had yet to enact national legislation to protect IDPs, despite its obligation to incorporate the Guiding Principles into domestic legislation under the Great Lakes Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region and the Pact’s Protocol on the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons. The humanitarian response to internal displacement remained limited in 2011 due to the absence of even the minimum funding needed to protect and assist IDPs, and because humanitarian access continued to be blocked in several conflict zones. In 2011, the humanitarian community increased its efforts to improve baseline information on IDPs, supporting a profiling exercise in the north-east while OCHA conducted a nationwide review of IDP figures. The profiling exercise found that 23 per cent of IDPs in the north-east had integrated locally and that most host communities were also affected by conflict and insecurity and unable to access their fields for farming. The OCHA study recommended the development of a displacement monitoring framework to monitor the specific needs of IDPs, and called for a nationwide collection of data disaggregated by sex and age, to be reinforced by the inclusion of IDPs in the upcoming 2013 census. Using improved baseline information, OCHA estimated that at least 66,000 people had returned to their villages of origin in the north-west of the country. By December 2011, only 48 per cent of the $142 million requested in the 2011 CAP appeal for humanitarian funds had been met. This included $5 million allocated by the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for underfunded emergencies. While funding for the education sector increased from 33 per cent of the requested sum in 2010 to 64 per cent in 2011, funding for the protection sector dropped from 42 to 21 per cent.
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Global Overview 2011
Libya
Chad
R Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index 126,000 1.1% 2006 185,000 (2007) 0 Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations 183
Niger
Sudan
Nigeria
N’Djamena
Cameroon
Central African Republic
At the end of 2011, 126,000 people were still internally displaced in eastern Chad, five years after being forced to flee armed conflict between government forces and armed opposition groups, inter-ethnic violence over land and natural resources, or attacks by criminal groups known as coupeurs de route. Most IDPs were living in camps where they had limited access to livelihoods and continued to rely on the support of international humanitarian organisations. While the conflict and violence had largely abated and no new internal displacement was reported in 2011, the lack of basic services and ongoing insecurity in areas of return prevented the majority of IDPs from returning to their villages of origin. Since 2008, only 30 per cent of all IDPs, or 56,000 people, had returned. For this reason, the government and the international community started to promote other settlement options besides return, including the conversion of remaining IDP camps into locally integrated communities. Presidential elections were held in April 2011, and President Idriss Déby was re-elected for a fourth term in office, securing 89 per cent of the vote. The three main opposition candidates boycotted the election after their demands for electoral reform were not met. Despite being an oil producer, Chad ranked 183rd out of 187 countries in the 2011 Human Development Index, making it one of the least-developed countries in the world. It also ranked 134th out of 135 countries in the 2011 Global Gender Gap Report, an assessment of how well countries divide resources and opportunities between their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of those resources and opportunities. The overall situation in Chad was made worse in 2011 by food insecurity which affected more than 1.6 million people, a cholera epidemic of a scale not seen in recent times, and parallel outbreaks of polio and measles. Against this backdrop, 83,000 migrant workers in Libya returned to Chad after fleeing the war there. The overall national response to internal displacement in Chad continued to be insufficient. In 2007, the government established a national committee to assist IDPs, the Comité national d’assistance aux personnes déplacées or CNAPD, and in 2008, it also set up the Coordination nationale d’appui à la force internationale au Tchad or CONAFIT to coordinate humanitarian activities with UN peacekeeping troops and humanitarian organisations. The impact of these bodies has been limited as neither has had the staff or resources that
would allow them to provide assistance and facilitate durable solutions for IDPs. However, the government has since undertaken a number of initiatives which could have a positive impact on the protection of IDPs if they are properly implemented and monitored. In 2010, the improvement of relations between Chad and Sudan enabled the deployment of a joint border security force and the establishment of a security office to facilitate humanitarian operations after UN peacekeeping troops known as MINURCAT withdrew from the country. The government also signed the N’Djamena Declaration to end the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups. In 2011, the government ratified the Kampala Convention, signed an action plan with the UN to end the recruitment and use of children by the country’s security forces, and signed a joint agreement with the governments of the Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan to strengthen economic ties by deregulating trade, building roads and establishing new flight routes. However, despite these welcome developments, by December 2011 the government of Chad had yet to enact national legislation to protect IDPs. The response to the 2011 emergencies and the protracted situation of Chadian IDPs and refugees from Darfur and CAR has also been limited by a lack of international commitment, particularly in areas related to Chad’s recovery from conflict. The CAP appeal for humanitarian funds for 2011 requested $535 million, but by December only 57 per cent of this sum had been funded. Several sectors of assistance remained seriously underfunded, including the education and protection sectors which were only funded at nine and ten per cent, respectively. The early recovery sector had not received any funding by December 2011, despite the intentions of the government and the humanitarian community to shift from relief efforts to recovery. The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated $25.5 million to respond to the problems of food insecurity, cholera and polio outbreaks, and the return of Chadians from Libya, making Chad the largest recipient of CERF funds in West and Central Africa in 2011.
Internal displacement in Africa
43
Mali Burkina Faso
Guinea
Côte d’Ivoire
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population
Yamoussoukro Ghana Moyen Cavally
Dix-huit Montagnes
At least 247,000 At least 1.2% 2002 1,100,000 (2003) Up to 1,000,000 Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations 170
Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement
Liberia
Abidjan
Causes of displacement Human development index
Violence following the disputed presidential election of late 2010 caused major new displacement in 2011 in Côte d’Ivoire. Violent clashes followed the second round of voting in November 2010 after both candidates, Alassane Ouattara and incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo, claimed victory. The elections were supposed to conclude the long-drawn-out peace process following the armed conflict that broke out in 2002. There were no consolidated estimates on the number of people internally displaced by either conflict at the end of 2011. Estimates of the number still displaced following the post-election violence ranged between 186,000 and 247,000. Meanwhile, it was not clear how many of the million or more people displaced by the earlier conflict or by localised communal conflicts over the last decade had found a durable solution. Following the second round of the election, both candidates claimed victory after the provisional results showed a victory for Ouattara. Fighting between the two camps was reported in the west of the country and in the largest city Abidjan until April, when Gbagbo was captured and arrested and Ouattara took office. Most members of the newly formed Forces Républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI) fighting in support of Ouattara had been in the former New Forces (Forces Nouvelles) armed opposition. At the height of the crisis in March, UNHCR reported that up to a million people were thought to be displaced, including over 700,000 within or from Abidjan, and 150,000 in the west of the country. More than 200,000 people fled to neighbouring countries. By the end of 2011, security had largely improved. In the west, however, criminal activities as well as the cross-border movement of armed groups and inter-communal clashes continued, while clashes were ongoing in Abidjan between FRCI factions and between them and pro-Gbagbo groups. In September, a truth and reconciliation commission following the model of South Africa’s was sworn in in an effort to forge national unity. Most of the IDPs found refuge with family and friends; at the end of the year, there had been no survey of their number but international humanitarian agencies estimated that some 170,000 remained in this situation. More information was available on IDPs who had gathered in public or privately owned sites including churches and schools. In October, some 16,000 IDPs were still living in such sites in the west and in Abidjan. Those on private property were under increasing pressure to
leave as the owners tried to reclaim it, but they could not return to their homes as they feared reprisal attacks. Both sides reportedly committed serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Pro-Gbagbo forces were reportedly responsible for killings and massacres of civilians in the west as well as indiscriminate shelling and ethnically-motivated killings and rapes in Abidjan. In July, the UN reported 26 extrajudicial executions and 85 cases of arbitrary arrest and illegal detention in just one month, most committed by supporters of Ouattara, while eight mass graves were uncovered. Sexual violence was perpetrated by both sides on the basis of victims’ political or ethnic identity, sometimes publicly or in front of family members. There was also a sharp rise in the recruitment of children into militia groups. In the west, militias and self-defence groups threatened the lives of people including IDPs who had fled to supposedly safer locations, while armed robberies and racketeering were also common. Following the arrest of Gbagbo, most people displaced since the election reportedly returned without assistance to their places of origin or habitual residence. However, intercommunity tensions and land disputes continued in areas of return and also caused further displacements. Land disputes, between Ivorians considered native to communities in western regions and migrants originating from other regions or from other West African countries were among the triggers of Côte d’Ivoire’s conflicts, with “natives” contesting migrants’ right to land. In 2011 as in previous years, many IDPs returned to find the plots they had planted either sold or leased by others. The Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs and Solidarity was charged with ensuring the coordination of the humanitarian response. The national committee it set up in October was at the end of 2011 reviewing a strategic plan drafted by the international community to facilitate the return of those IDPs who were still in sites. The cluster system for humanitarian coordination was reactivated in January 2011, after international agencies had shifted their focus towards development activities in 2010. Ten clusters were activated including a protection cluster which included child protection, gender-based violence and social cohesion sub-clusters. Initially, continued fighting stopped humanitarian agencies reaching the populations in need; as the security improved, access increased but lack of funding increasingly limited the response, especially in the west.
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Global Overview 2011
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index 1,710,000 2.5% 1996 3,400,000 (2003) At least 168,000 Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations 187
Central African Republic Lower Uele Equateur
South Sudan
Upper Uele Ituri North Kivu Uganda
Orientale
Republic of the Congo
Rwanda South Kivu Burundi Tanzania
Kinshasa
Katanga Angola Zambia
At the end of 2011, an estimated 1.7 million people were internally displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by various conflicts which had killed several million people since the mid-1990s. The vast majority of those currently displaced had fled since the start of large-scale military operations against armed groups in eastern DRC in early 2009, or from the attacks and violence against civilians perpetrated by all parties to the conflicts. In 2011, many areas of the country, particularly in the east, were outside government control, and the army had limited success in defeating various armed groups. Members of both the army and rebel groups continued to commit human rights violations and abuses, including killings, sexual exploitation, abduction, forced conscription of children, looting, plundering of crops, illegal taxation and widespread harassment. The perpetrators of abuses continued to enjoy general impunity; while millions of civilians have suffered as a result of the violence, only a handful of perpetrators have ever been brought to justice. In 2011, army units were withdrawn from zones in North and South Kivu, to be trained before their redeployment. This left local communities with less protection, including many in areas which were already prone to insecurity; armed groups were accordingly able to retake old positions and attack civilians. At the end of the year, an estimated 540,000 people were displaced within North Kivu and 520,000 in South Kivu. South Kivu villagers also found refuge in neighbouring Maniema and Katanga, which hosted around 55,000 and 74,000 IDPs respectively at the end of the year. There were also significant displacements in Orientale Province in 2011. Attacks in Lower Uele and Upper Uele Districts by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), land conflicts between different ethnic groups in Ituri District, and military operations against the ADF/NALU armed group in neighouring North Kivu brought the number of IDPs in the province to over 340,000. While some 800,000 people managed to return home between mid-2010 and mid-2011, few did so in the second half of 2011 because of heightened insecurity and the climate of uncertainty due to the impending elections. Ethnic tensions and the occupation of IDPs’ land also prevented their safe return. Many IDPs have sought to integrate in their place of displacement or settle elsewhere, following
the destruction or occupation of their villages. However, there progress has not been monitored, with humanitarian organisations only following some return movements. IDPs are dispersed in rural and urban areas, where they have either supported themselves or relied on the limited resources of host communities. As these communities have been increasingly unable to cope with the influx, IDPs in North Kivu have also been forced to take refuge either in informal camps or in formal camps managed by international NGOs and coordinated by UNHCR. Estimates of the number of IDPs outside camps have remained very approximate. Most IDPs and returning IDPs have lacked access to basic services such as health care, education, water and sanitation and transportation infrastructure, and are in need of food, seeds, tools, clothes and building materials, in what was by 2011 the least developed country in the world. Protracted conflict and displacement have been identified as the main causes of food insecurity in eastern DRC. The conflict has also led to the disruption of education for many children. A major challenge is that those with the most urgent need of assistance are increasingly dispersed and unreachable in remote and insecure areas. Measures adopted by the central government and provincial authorities have not met the needs of IDPs. While the Ministry for Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs is responsible for IDPs, there is no policy or legislation in place to guide its work, and it has rarely provided direct assistance to IDPs. Nonetheless, DRC has signed, but not ratified, the Kampala Convention, and has ratified the Great Lakes Pact. The protection cluster led by UNHCR monitors the protect-ion needs of conflict-affected populations including IDPs in the eastern provinces, and has called for better protection by military and civilian authorities, as well as the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO. While humanitarian funding in DRC grew six-fold between 2002 and 2010, from $98 million to $585 million, yearly humanitarian appeals have remained under-funded. In addition to emergency assistance, the government and the UN and its partners continued to implement their stabilisation plans for eastern DRC, which include the facilitation of the return and reintegration of IDPs and refugees.
Internal displacement in Africa
45
Eritrea Sudan Djibouti BenishangulGumuz
Ethiopia
Somalia
Gambella South Sudan
Several waves of conflict have caused large-scale inOromiya Somali ternal displacement in Ethiopia. From 1977 to 1978, the country was at war with Somalia in which the United Kenya States and the former Soviet Union were involved. The Ethiopia-Eritrea War, fought between 1998 and 2000 over a disputed border area, claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and displaced over 350,000 on the Ethiopian side alone. Ethiopia has also experienced decades of violence between ethnic groups over resources, and fighting between government forces and insurgent movements seeking autonomy. In 2011 as in previous years, displacement was caused by localised violence in regions including Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz, and by ongoing protracted armed struggles for self-determination in Oromiya and Somali regions. In Somali region in the south-east of the country, fighting between the Ogaden National Liberation Front and government forces had been ongoing for over three decades. In all these contexts, information on the scale of the displacement and the ongoing situation of IDPs has remained difficult to obtain due to restrictions on access. As of December 2011, humanitarian organisations estimated that about 300,000 people remained internally displaced by all these events. Nearly all of these IDPs had reportedly sought shelter
Addis Ababa
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index Undetermined Undetermined Undetermined Undetermined Undetermined Armed conflict, generalised violence 174
with relatives or safety in the bush, rather than gathering in organised camps. In displacement-affected regions including Somali, southern Oromiya and Gambella, the food security, health, nutrition and access to water of communities were all of major concern. The government and its international partners provided humanitarian assistance to communities in these areas, not primarily because they had been displaced but because they were affected by natural disasters. The government has sought to resolve conflicts and violence through regional authorities, but their impact has remained limited. Ethiopia was one of the first countries to sign the Kampala Convention, but had not ratified it by the end of 2011.
People at a bus station in Adjamé district of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, looking to flee the increasingly severe post-election fighting. (Photo: IRIN/Alexis Adélé, March 2011)
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Global Overview 2011
South Sudan Ethiopia
Kenya
Uganda
Turkana Marsabit Isiolo
Mandera
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index About 250,000 About 0.6% Undetermined 650,000 (2008) 50,000 Generalised violence, human rights violations 143
Mt. Elgon Mr.
Somalia
Samburu
Nairobi
Tanzania
There have been several distinct situations of internal displacement in Kenya, each varying in terms of its cause, duration and the number of people affected. The largest displacement in recent years followed the disputed presidential election of December 2007. When the results were contested, widespread politically motivated violence displaced over 660,000 people. Many of them were still displaced at the end of 2011, with large numbers still unable to return home or rebuild their lives in the place they were displaced to or elsewhere. Despite government efforts to return and resettle the majority of those displaced, a number of IDPs still remained displaced, either among host communities or in the few remaining camps, settlements and transit sites. In 2008, the government of Kenya, through “Operation Rudi Nyumbani”, resettled a large number of IDPs in so-called “transit sites” near their places of origin. However, some have remained trapped in the camps they first sought shelter in, and efforts to resettle them have been hindered by corruption and resistance from communities on whose land the government wanted to relocate IDPs. For example, Masai politicians have opposed the resettlement of Kikuyu IDPs on what they claim is their ancestral lands. A 2011 study comparing the situation of IDPs in Nairobi with that of longer-term residents and also people who had migrated there voluntarily found that IDPs were worse off in several respects. Long-term residents were in the best situation, and in some aspects IDPs and migrants shared similar experiences. However, IDPs were most likely to live in inadequate housing in high-risk areas, with worse access to essentials such as drinking water. IDPs were also less securely employed than others. In 2011, most new displacement was a result of localised violence and incursions into northern Kenya by armed groups from Somalia and Ethiopia. In March, over 20,000 people were displaced from the town of Mandera by fighting between the Kenyan armed forces and members of the Somali Al-Shabaab group who had crossed the border from Somalia to engage in criminal activities in Kenya. The Ethiopian army crossed into Mandera to support the Kenyan forces, but its intervention caused further displacement as civilians fled the area for fear of reprisal attacks. In Isiolo in central Kenya and in the northern town of Moyale, inter-ethnic violence over scarce water and pasture
resources caused the death of over 50 people and displaced thousands of families. The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an Ethiopian armed group that has been fighting the Ethiopian government for the independence of Ethiopia’s Oromiya Region, reportedly also took part in the fighting in northern Kenya. The OLF operates in southern Ethiopia and at times seek refuge in northern Kenya. There was no national data on IDPs available in 2011; the government has not carried out an exercise to profile their number and locations in most parts of the country. A report published in February 2011 by the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the National IDP Network found that the profiling that had taken place was flawed and affected by corruption; many IDPs, in particular the so-called “integrated IDPs”, had been excluded from the figures and thus the assistance due to them. The government and its partners made progress in 2011 towards implementing a national IDP policy. After the government and the Protection Working Group presented a draft policy in March 2010, the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Resettlement of IDPs prepared a bill for its adoption, to go before parliament in 2012. Incorporating the Guiding Principles into domestic legislation and policies was an obligation for Kenya as a signatory to the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region and to its Protocol on the Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons. An outstanding barrier to the resolution of displacement in Kenya is that its perpetrators have long enjoyed impunity. The government has not repealed the 1972 Indemnity Act which shields security forces from prosecution for human rights violations including killings of nomadic Kenyan Somalis in the 1960s which caused massive displacement. Nor have the instigators of the violence that led to displacements in the 1990s in the Rift Valley and other parts of the country been brought to justice. In 2011, however, in a landmark in the fight against impunity, the ICC brought cases against six high-profile figures who allegedly bore the greatest responsibility for the post-election violence, including charges of instigating and financing violence.
Internal displacement in Africa
47
Guinea Sierra Leone
Liberia
Up to 500,000 people were internally displaced in Liberia during the 14-year civil war which ended in 2003 with the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In 2011, the number of remaining IDPs was unknown. There had been little or no follow-up on the few thousand people who remained in former camps after the return process came to an end in 2007, or on those who found refuge in Monrovia. At the height of the conflict, the population of Monrovia nearly tripled as waves of IDPs arrived from conflict-affected rural areas. It is likely that the majority of slum dwellers in the city in 2011 had been IDPs. By the end of 2011, the Liberian government and its international counterparts considered that the internal displacement situation had ended. Nonetheless, it is unclear how many IDPs have found durable solutions. In urban areas, they have remained at risk of eviction because their tenure of slum dwellings is not protected; in rural areas, continuing disputes over the use and ownership of land in return areas have prevented their return becoming sustainable. The failure to resolve these issues has stood in the way of long-term security. Gender-based violence against women and
Côte d’Ivoire
via Monrovia
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Undetermined Undetermined 1989 500,000 (2003) Undetermined Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations 182
Human development index
girls has remained widespread and people’s access to justice has remained limited. In October 2010, Liberia’s Land Commission convened a conference to formulate guidelines for the development of an urban land policy, as a first step to address the land issues in the country. At the end of 2011, the policy was yet to be developed. In October 2011, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was reelected to a second term in office. Liberia adopted the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement into national legislation in 2004, and was among the first countries to sign the Kampala Convention in October 2009.
Niger
In Niger, people have been internally displaced by armed conflict between government forces and Tuareg factions in the northern region of Agadez, and by clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic pastoralists across the country and especially along the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso. Estimates of their numbers have been scarce as no monitoring mechanisms are in place. In 2007, some 11,000 people were reported displaced by clashes between the army and a new Tuareg militant group, the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ); at the end of 2011, it was unknown how many were still displaced. The Tuareg insurgency broke out in 1990, driven by economic and political grievances. A 1995 agreement between the government and the different Tuareg factions put a halt to the violence, but the MNJ emerged in 2007 as Tuareg Libya demands had not been met. Algeria The armed conflict abated in 2009 following talks between the government and the MNJ. According to the ICRC, Agadez inter-communal violence Chad has increased since 2009 in some areas including Tillabéry in north-west Niger. In 2011, Nigeria Al-Qa’eda in the Islamic Maghreb extended its insurgent
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Undetermined Undetermined 2007 11,000 (2007) Undetermined Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations 186
Human development index
Mali
Burkina Faso Benin
activities over the border from northern Mali. Levels of poverty and food insecurity also grew during the year; droughts and floods led to further displacement and the continuing degradation of rural land, while instability in neighbouring countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Libya and Nigeria meant that households could not rely on remittances from migrant workers there. The government of Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in a military coup in 2010 and defeated by the opposition of Mahamadou Issoufou in presidential elections in March 2011. The humanitarian community has focused its efforts on responding to the increasing food insecurity in the country, by targeting vulnerable groups including people internally displaced by drought and flooding in 2010.
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Global Overview 2011
Niger
Nigeria
Benin Bauchi Abuja Jos
Borno
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index Undetermined Undetermined 1999 Undetermined At least 65,000 Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations 142
Cameroon
Akwa Ibom Niger Delta
During 2011, thousands of people were displaced by postelection violence, clashes between the Boko Haram sect and security forces in the north and continuing inter-communal clashes across Nigeria. The country has experienced recurring conflicts since its return to democracy in 1999 after military rule, which have led to fluctuating but consistently large numbers of IDPs. Among recent examples, violence in Plateau State in 2010 and clashes between government forces and militants in the Niger Delta in 2009 each displaced thousands of people. Following a year-long survey between October 2010 and October 2011, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that there were some 370,000 IDPs in the country, including some 74,000 in camps. Further details were not available as the full survey results were not made public. Previous estimates by government and other agencies only included people who had sought shelter at temporary IDP camps, and did not reflect the many who had taken refuge with family and friends. Numbers were not usually disaggregated by age and sex and only referred to localised displacement situations. In the absence of mechanisms to monitor IDPs’ ongoing situations, it has been impossible to determine how many may have recovered and achieved a durable solution. In April 2011, Nigeria held presidential elections won by incumbent Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People’s Democratic Party. Widespread protests by supporters of the main opposition candidate broke out after the official results were released, which quickly degenerated into violent riots and sectarian killings and led to the displacement of some 65,000 people across the northern states. There was no monitoring of whether these IDPs were prevented from voting in the subsequent elections of state governors, but many of them were reportedly not planning to go back to the villages where they were registered to vote, for fear of further violence. In northern Nigeria, civilians were killed and others displaced and their property destroyed in increasingly violent attacks which were reportedly linked to members of the Boko Haram or other armed groups. According to Amnesty International, the security forces were also responsible for indiscriminate and excessive use of force in response to the attacks. Ongoing sporadic bombings, killings and violent threats by Boko Haram members prevented many of the people displaced from returning to their homes in the year. Meanwhile, inter-communal violence fuelled by wide-
spread poverty and disputes over resources continued across the country. After the violence which displaced thousands of people in early 2010 in Plateau State, new clashes broke out in the state’s capital Jos, killing 20 people and causing the displacement of a further 4,000 according to the Nigerian Red Cross Society. A resettlement programme was initiated by NEMA and the Bauchi State government in 2010 for the IDPs who were unwilling to return to Jos; by January 2011, NEMA reported that about 5,000 IDPs had been resettled in Bauchi. Elsewhere in Bauchi and Akwa Ibom States, long-standing land disputes degenerated at the beginning of 2011 into intercommunal clashes, forcing many residents, especially women and children, to flee. Natural disasters such as flooding have also regularly caused internal displacement in Nigeria. In conflict-affected states, these natural disasters have complicated displacement and return patterns. In 2011, Nigeria ratified the Kampala Convention, but the instruments of ratification were not deposited at the AU before the end of the year. Meanwhile, the government still had not fomally adopted the national IDP policy which it had drafted in 2003 and revised in 2009. The response to internal displacement, including both assistance and protection measures, has been generally included under disaster management mechanisms. In the absence of national policy and legal frameworks, local authorities have taken responsibility to respond to displacement. Some states have state emergency management agencies, which step in where local authorities are unable to respond. At the federal level, NEMA coordinates emergency relief operations and victim assistance, and may intervene upon the president’s decision. The National Commission for Refugees has taken on the role of providing longer-term support measures enabling durable solutions for IDPs and refugees. However, the Commission lacks resources and its role and mandate to assist IDPs is unclear. There has been no consistent drive to promote durable solutions for IDPs. The UN Country Team has established the Emergency Preparedness and Response Working Group to implement interagency disaster preparedness and response activities more effectively. Responses to internal displacement follow roles and responsibilities under the cluster system, even though this has not been formally adopted.
Internal displacement in Africa
49
Mauritania
Dakar Mali Gambia
Senegal
Successive peace agreements have failed to put an end to conflict in Senegal’s Guinea Bissau Casamance region, where Guinea government forces and the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC) have been fighting intermittently since 1982. The ongoing conflict has been caused by factors including cultural discrimination, a lack of livelihood opportunities and an influx of people from other regions following a land reform programme imposed by the government. There was no reliable data on the overall number of IDPs. Many people had returned since security improved in 2008, but the number whose return had proved sustainable was unknown, as was the number who had successfully integrated in their place of displacement or settled elsewhere. Estimates ranged from 10,000 to 40,000 IDPs in 2011, including some 20,000 to 30,000 in Ziguinchor, the largest city in Casamance. IDPs stayed with family and friends in areas they deemed to be safe. Their limited access to land there meant they had few livelihood opportunities, but the presence of landmines and the continuing insecurity prevented many from returning to farm in their villages of origin. Infrastructure and basic services also remained poor in areas of return.
Casamance
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index 10,000 – 40,000 0.1 – 0.3% 1982 70,000 (2007) Undetermined Armed conflict 155
Ziguinchor
Anecdotal evidence has indicated that older IDPs wish to return while younger generations are more interested in integrating locally, especially in urban centres. Senegal has signed but not ratified the Kampala Convention, and it has not created national bodies or implemented legislation or policies in support of IDPs. Instead, IDPs have been included in wider reconstruction, peacebuilding and development activities, such as the Programme for Revival of Economic and Social Activities. International agencies have also targeted wider populations with programmes on food security, education, demobilisation and reintegration of combatants, and reconstruction in areas of return. Demining operations continued in 2011.
Somalia
In 2011 the humanitarian crisis in Somalia continued to worsen due to a combination of generalised violence, conflict between the government and its allies and insurgent groups, and drought across the Horn of Africa that contributed to famine conditions in south and central Somalia. The famine threatened the lives of many of the 1.5 million people displaced within Somalia by the conflict, and forced many more to flee again in search of lifesaving assistance. By August, malnutrition rates among internally displaced populations in the capital Mogadishu and the nearby “Afgooye corridor” were up to three times the critical emergency threshold. At the end of 2011, despite the arrival of the short rainy season, IDPs across southern and central areas still faced severe food security and protection problems. The ongoing conflict also caused new displacement. In July, Al-Shabaab withdrew Djibouti thousands of fighters from areas in and around Mogadishu. However, in October, renewed fighting forced people to flee once more from the capital. Meanwhile, conflict continued Ethiopia across south and central SoGalgadud malia: fighting between the Hiiraan Al-Shabaab insurgents and the
Gedo Afgooye Kenya
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement 1,460,000 16% 1988 1,500,000 (2007) 100,000 Armed conflict, deliberate policy or practice of arbitrary displacement, generalised violence, human rights violations –
Human development index
Transitional Federal Government supported by the AU Mission in Somalia forced people to flee in Lower Shabelle, Benadir, Gedo and Middle Juba. Meanwhile, alongside the conflict, fighting between different insurgent groups and factions and localised violence over water and pasture resources were continuing to cause displacement. The number of IDPs has remained between 1.4 and 1.5 million since 2007. UNHCR and its partners have collected information on the movement of populations in Somalia through the Population Movement Tracking system. Most of the populations identified as displaced are believed to have fled their
50
Global Overview 2011
Kismayu
Mogadishu
homes because of the conflict or violence, and many have been displaced a number of times. The majority of IDPs are from Mogadishu and its environs, and many have taken refuge in informal settlements around Afgooye. These settlements reportedly host some 500,000 IDPs, in the largest concentration of IDPs in the world. Large numbers of IDPs have also taken shelter in the towns of Bosaso, Garowe and Galkayo in the north-eastern region of Puntland. In 2011, IDPs in Somalia faced severe risks to their security and dignity due to their living conditions and the ongoing conflict. Parties to the conflict reportedly attacked IDP camps, perpetrated widespread sexual and other gender-based violence, forcibly recruited internally displaced children and fought each other near camps. The fighting and deliberate obstruction by some parties to the conflict severely limited the access to urgently needed protection and assistance of IDPs and others, and prevented the return of IDPs to their places of origin. In October, the entry of Kenyan forces into southern Somalia reportedly led to displacement, as people fled in fear of confrontation between the Kenyan army and Al-Shabaab forces. Shortly afterwards, up to five IDPs were killed and some 45 injured when a Kenyan armed forces plane bombed their settlement in the town of Jilib. Although the Kenyan army denied it had happened, both Médecins Sans Frontières and ICRC reported treating injured civilians. The Kenyan army also warned residents of ten other towns in southern Somalia to leave, prior to an imminent attack to flush out Al-Shabaab members.
The health situation of IDPs deteriorated in 2011 as a result of the continuing conflict and famine. The country faced outbreaks of cholera, diarrhoea, malaria, measles and pneumonia, most of them in the IDP hosting areas in the south. With the drought destroying crops, reducing livestock levels and exhausting people’s resources, and much of the food assistance allowed into the country diverted by parties to the conflict, IDPs were also the group most affected by the food crisis, as they lacked money to buy food. Somalia has signed but not ratified the AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance to IDPs. In any case, its implementation will remain a major challenge for many years to come given the prevailing insecurity, weak government institutions and the country’s limited resources. Assistance to IDPs in south and central Somalia is mostly provided by local businesses and civil society organisations, while further north in Somaliland and Puntland there is wider access and the responses of local actors have also been mostly positive. Somalia has long presented a challenging operating environment for aid agencies. Nonetheless, they made significant life-saving interventions during the first half of 2011; one million people received food assistance and emergency health care activities reached nearly 40 per cent of the two million people in need. In November, Al-Shabaab announced a ban on the operations of 16 aid agencies in areas under its control. Despite such barriers and the ongoing insecurity, it will continue to be necessary to seek ways of engaging with groups obstructing access to IDPs.
South Sudan
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Undetermined Undetermined 1983 4,000,000 (2004) 350,000 Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations –
Human development index
On 9 July 2011, after more than 50 years of civil war, the Republic of South Sudan declared independence from Sudan. Until that point, Sudan had been the largest country in Africa and also the country with the largest number of IDPs in the world – between 4.5 and 5.2 million people at the end of 2010. While new figures for both countries were estimated by the UN at the end of the year, large information gaps remained. The UN estimated that 350,000 people were newly displaced in South Sudan in 2011. Hundreds of thousands were displaced by fighting between the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and new South Sudanese militia groups in Unity and
Upper Nile, inter-tribal violence in Jonglei, Lakes, Unity and Warrap, and attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Western Bahr el-Ghazal and Western Equatoria. This figure also included 110,000 people displaced by fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the SPLA in Abyei in May. Abyei is a contested area between Sudan and South Sudan, and people displaced from Abyei sought refuge in South Sudan. After the fighting, the UN Security Council established the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to monitor the border and protect civilians and humanitarian workers. In December 2011, the Security Council extended the mandate of UNISFA until the end of May 2012. The governments of Sudan and South Sudan had yet to facilitate returns by withdrawing their respective forces from the area, which was a precondition for the withdrawal of UNISFA. At the end of the year, the UN estimated that 360,000 southerners had returned to South Sudan from the north since October 2010. HoweSudan ver, they returned to locaUpper tions near border areas with Abyei Nile virtually no social services or Unity economic opportunities to Warrap Jonglei Central support their reintegration. Lakes African The UN also estimated Republic Western Equatoria that there were 700,000 Juba southerners remaining in Democratic Republic Khartoum who had been of the Congo Uganda internally displaced there
Ethiopia
Kenya
Internal displacement in Africa
51
before the secession of South Sudan and whose citizenship status had yet to be resolved. Their protection needs should also be addressed as they have lost Sudanese citizenship with the new nationality law, but may not have access to documents confirming their South Sudan citizenship. It is unclear if they have any options for durable solutions. Following the end of government-funded support for returns, thousands of others who were also displaced in Khartoum before the independence of South Sudan were stranded at departure points or in transit stations waiting to return to South Sudan. The long waiting periods and lack of services in these places remained of concern to the humanitarian community. Both Sudan and South Sudan faced enormous challenges during the latter’s first months of statehood, including: the escalation of violence and conflict along their border; disagreements over its demarcation and over the water and grazing rights of nomadic groups who move through border areas; and unresolved disputes over the sharing of oil revenues, as oil fields are mostly in the south but the infrastructure to export oil is in the north. The inter-tribal conflicts were driven, and further displacement threatened, by widespread food insecurity. As the government worked to build new state institutions, South Sudan was one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world at the end of 2011. More than half of its population of 8.3 million people were living on less than $1 per day, and the country lacked social services and transport infrastructure. The international response to the multiple emergencies was limited by the insecurity. Many displacement-affected areas in
South Sudan remained difficult to access, preventing vulnerable groups from obtaining urgently needed assistance and making the delivery of assistance extremely expensive. Responding to the emergency needs of returnees also remained a priority for the international community. As well as UNISFA in Abyei, the UN Security Council also established the UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) on the day of independence, to consolidate peace and security and help establish conditions for the new government to govern effectively and democratically. The 2011 CAP appeal for humanitarian funds for South Sudan was launched shortly after the declaration of independence. By December, 56 per cent of the $620 million requested had been met. While the food security and emergency shelter sectors were funded at 85 and 77 per cent, other sectors remained seriously underfunded, including health, water and sanitation (both at 53 per cent) and protection at only 20 per cent. The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated almost $23 million to assist people displaced by violence in Abyei and along the border with Sudan, and IDPs returning home after independence.
Sudan
On 9 July 2011, after more than 50 years of civil war, the Republic of South Sudan declared independence from Sudan. Until that point, Sudan had been the largest country in Africa and also the country with the largest number of IDPs in the world – between 4.5 and 5.2 million people at the end of 2010. While new figures for both countries were estimated by the UN at the end of the year, large information gaps remained. The UN estimated that at least 2.2 million people remained internally displaced in Sudan at the end of 2011. This figure includes 1.9 million IDPs in Darfur, 200,000 IDPs in South Kordofan, and 66,000 Egypt IDPs in Blue Nile. This figure does not inRed Sea clude 110,000 people displaced by fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces Eritrea Kassala Khartoum (SAF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in Abyei in May. Abyei is a Blue contested area between SuSouth Nile Kordofan dan and South Sudan, and Ethiopia Abyei people displaced from Abyei South Sudan sought refuge in South Sudan. After the fighting, the UN Sedan Port Su
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement At least 2,200,000 At least 7.0% 2003 2,700,000 (2008) At least 115,000 Armed conflict, deliberate policy or practice of arbitrary displacement, human rights violations 169
Human development index
Libya
Chad
Darfur
Central African Republic
curity Council established the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to monitor the border and protect civilians and humanitarian workers. In December, the Security Council extended the mandate of UNISFA until the end of May 2012. The governments of Sudan and South Sudan had yet to facilitate returns by withdrawing their respective forces from the area, which was a precondition for the withdrawal of UNISFA. In the non-Arab South Kordofan State, conflict broke out between the SAF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in June 2011, and also in Blue Nile State in September; these conflicts were ongoing at the end of the year. The fighting displaced 200,000 people in South
52
Global Overview 2011
Kordofan and 66,000 in Blue Nile. The UN and international NGOs had difficulty in verifying these figures because they were unable to access displaced communities. However, it is believed that IDPs remained in urgent need of assistance, as fighting took place at the height of the “hunger gap” between the two harvests and interrupted agricultural production as well as access to food markets. The UN also estimated that there were 700,000 people remaining in Khartoum who had been internally displaced there before the independence of South Sudan and whose citizenship status had yet to be resolved. Their protection needs should also be addressed as they have lost Sudanese citizenship with the new nationality law, but may not have access to documents confirming their South Sudan citizenship. It is unclear if they have any options for a durable solution. Following the end of government-funded support for returns, thousands of others who were also displaced in Khartoum before the independence of South Sudan were stranded at departure points or in transit stations waiting to return to South Sudan. The long waiting periods and lack of services in these places remained of concern to the humanitarian community. Continuing fighting between the government and other armed opposition groups in North and South Darfur displaced 80,000 people in 2011. However, the UN also reported the return of 45,000 IDPs in West Darfur due to improved security conditions. In July 2011, the government signed the Doha Peace Agreement with the Liberation and Justice Movement.
UNAMID, the joint AU/UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, has struggled to protect civilians, given the scale of violence and displacement, its lack of critical resources, and interference from the Sudanese government that has stalled deployment of troops at various stages. In July 2011, its mandate was extended for one year, to ensure humanitarian access, protect civilians, and support the implementation of the Doha Peace Agreement. In 2009, the government of Sudan adopted a national IDP policy intended to cover all of Sudan, including the southern regions. However by the end of 2011 it had taken few steps to implement the policy. Sudan has ratified the Great Lakes Pact but had yet to sign the Kampala Convention by 2011. In October 2010, the UN Human Rights Council renewed the mandate of the independent expert on the situation of human rights in Sudan, the only mechanism providing a comprehensive overview of human rights there. The mandate of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) expired in July 2011 with the independence of South Sudan. The 2011 CAP appeal for humanitarian funds for Sudan was the largest in the world. By December 2011, $750 million or 68 per cent of the requested $1.1 billion had been met. This included $18.3 million allocated by the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for rapid response programmes for new IDPs and to support the return to South Sudan of southerners living in Sudan.
Uganda
R Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement About 30,000 About 0.1% 1988 1,840,000 (2005) 0 Armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations 161
Human development index
The conflict in northern Uganda between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) began in 1988, but large-scale displacement dated from 1996, when the government forced people in the Acholi region in the north to move into camps under its “protected villages” policy. An unknown number of people fled to towns and cities in other parts of Uganda. The government and the LRA signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in 2006. By the end of 2011, thanks to improved security, most of the 1.8 million IDPs in camps at the height of the conflict had returned to their area of origin or settled in new locations. However, recovery and development efforts in return areas have not been sufficient, and returned IDPs
have endured continuing difficulties in the face of inadequate basic services and limited support to rebuild their livelihoods. The majority of the 30,000 IDPs remaining in dismantled camps either cannot manage the return process on their own due to their age, illness or disability, or they have no land to go back to. This is the case of many widows and orphans who cannot recover the land of their deceased husbands and fathers. By the end of 2010, all humanitarian coordination functions had been taken over by the national authorities. Responsibility for the protection of IDPs was then transferred to the Uganda Human Rights Commission. Uganda adopted the National IDP Policy in 2004 South Sudan and started to implement the Peace, Recovery and DeveAcholi Democratic lopment Plan for Northern Republic Uganda in 2008. However of the Congo their impact in enabling durable solutions for IDPs has been limited given the Jinja considerable investment. Kampala The country is a party to the Great Lakes Pact, and in January 2010 Uganda became Tanzania the first country to ratify the Rwanda Kampala Convention.
Kenya
Internal displacement in Africa
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Mozambique Zambia
Mashonaland West Province Victoria Falls
Harare
Zimbabwe
Quick facts
Number of IDPs Percentage of total population Start of current displacement situation Peak number of IDPs (Year) New displacement Causes of displacement Human development index Undetermined Undetermined 2000 Undetermined Undetermined Human rights violations 173
Botswana
South Africa
In 2011, the situation of IDPs in Zimbabwe varied widely, depending on the reasons for their displacement and the length of time they had been displaced. Accordingly, their needs ranged from emergency humanitarian assistance to interventions aimed at securing a durable solution. For a significant proportion of them, insecure tenure over either land or housing presented a major obstacle to their integration in the place they had been displaced to. Information on the number of people internally displaced in the country was not available as of the end of the year. People in Zimbabwe have been internally displaced as a result of different government policies and actions. Groups of IDPs include former farm workers and their families who were either evicted from their homes on farms which were affected by the fast-track land reform programme, or forced to leave after losing their jobs on those farms. Others were displaced as a result of arbitrary evictions in Zimbabwe’s towns and cities, and still others by government campaigns against informal mine workers, or by politically motivated violence. Of the last group, most have been able to return home since the 2008 elections. The response to internal displacement in Zimbabwe improved significantly in recent years. The new government started to acknowledge the existence of internal displacement in the country and in 2009 it participated with the UN in a rapid IDP assessment to determine the scope of displacement in the country. However, the findings of the assessment had not been released by the end of 2011, and plans for a more comprehensive and nationwide quantitative survey had not moved forward. Publication of the report would help the government and its partners provide appropriate assistance to IDPs, and support their achievement of durable solutions. Humanitarian clusters were introduced in Zimbabwe in 2008. A feature in Zimbabwe is the IOM-led IDP sub-cluster under the protection cluster coordinated by UNHCR. A number of line ministries participated in cluster coordination mechanisms and they gradually allowed greater access of humanitarians to vulnerable groups including IDPs. Increasingly in 2011, the government and its development and humanitarian partners were using community-based planning to respond to the needs of internally displaced groups and host communities together. All groups within a certain community, including IDPs, were invited to work together to identify a durable solution for IDPs and a common development plan.
The humanitarian agencies, working with national and local authorities, applied this approach in developing a framework for the voluntary resettlement of IDPs in new locations in line with the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the IASC Framework for Durable Solutions and the AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of IDPs in Africa (the Kampala Convention). The framework, formally endorsed by the protection cluster and the IDP sub-cluster in 2011, places emphasis on ensuring that resettled IDPs have security of tenure and livelihood opportunities. Work on similar frameworks on supporting IDPs with other settlement preferences started in 2011. In October 2009, President Robert Mugabe was the second head of state to sign the Kampala Convention. The government, however, had not ratified the Convention by the end of 2011.
