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In 2009, IDMC monitored internal displacement in 21 African countries. There were an estimated 11.6 million IDPs in these countries, representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s total IDP population. As in previous years, Sudan had the largest internally displaced population in Africa with about 4.9 million IDPs, followed by DRC with 1.9 million and Somalia with 1.5 million.

Internal displacement in 2009 resulted from ongoing internal armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights violations, and inter-communal tensions that flared up over limited natural resources, including between pastoralists and sedentary farmers, and over political, social, and economic advantages. The highest number of new displacements in 2009 was reported in DRC with over one million new IDPs (the country’s highest rate of new displacement since 2004), followed by Sudan with 530,000, Somalia with 400,000 and Ethiopia with an estimated 200,000. New displacements were also reported in CAR, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

The adoption in October 2009 of the African Union’s Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (the Kampala Convention) was widely recognised as a historic achievement. The Kampala Convention is the first regional instrument in the world to impose legal obligations on states to protect people from arbitrary displacement, to provide protection and assistance to IDPs during displacement, and to seek durable solutions for them. It also highlights the duties and responsibilities of international humanitarian organisations and civil society, and imposes obligations on states parties to grant access to IDPs in need of protection and assistance and to prohibit non-state armed groups from obstructing such access or violating the rights of IDPs. The Kampala Convention will come into force once it has been ratified by 15 AU member states.

By the end of 2009, the Great Lakes Pact on Security, Stability and Development in Africa’s Great Lakes Region (the Great Lakes Pact) had been ratified by its 11 member states: Angola, Burundi, CAR, DRC, Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Together with the Great Lakes Pact, the Kampala Convention marks a real opportunity to address the protection and assistance needs of IDPs in African countries, including the urgent need for durable solutions.

In 2009, the highest numbers of returns in Africa were reported in DRC with one million returnees, Uganda with over 400,000 and Sudan with at least 280,000. Returns were also reported in CAR, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Niger and Nigeria.

While return remained the preferred durable solution for many African governments and IDPs, some IDPs were not able to make free and informed decisions of whether to return to
their places of origin, to integrate locally, or to settle elsewhere in their countries. In Kenya, the government forced IDPs to return even though the situation that gave rise to their displacement had not been properly addressed. There was little or no information across the continent about the number of IDPs who chose durable solutions other than return.

Despite the intentions shown by states in supporting the Great Lakes Pact and the Kampala Convention, durable solutions remained out of reach for many IDPs in the region. IDPs’ attempts to rebuild their lives were blocked by the continuing absence of stability and food security, reconciliation between communities, development and livelihood opportunities in areas of return, mechanisms to restitute or provide compensation for housing, land and property, and appropriate management of funds meant for returns, compensation and purchase of land. In 2009, one or more of these issues prevented progress towards durable solutions in Burundi, CAR, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Ethiopia, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan. Meanwhile, landmines hampered free movement in return areas in several countries including Algeria, Niger and Senegal.

The lack of humanitarian access to displaced communities was also an issue of concern in 2009. In Sudan, following the March 2009 indictment by the International Criminal Court of President al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, 13 international NGOs were expelled from northern Sudan and three Sudanese humanitarian organisations were disbanded. The 16 agencies had together delivered more than half the total amount of aid through 40 per cent of all the aid workers in northern Sudan. In CAR, Chad and Somalia, kidnappings of aid workers and continued attacks against aid organisations forced many to suspend operations and so
interrupt the delivery of humanitarian assistance. In Algeria, Ethiopia, Niger and Nigeria, restricted access to insecure or displacement-affected areas prevented humanitarian organisations from monitoring displacement, conducting needs assessments or delivering assistance in a timely manner. In parts of DRC, humanitarian access was severely limited by fighting, leaving IDPs to support themselves or to rely entirely on the limited resources of host communities.

Internally displaced communities in African countries faced various protection risks, due to immediate threats to their safety in some cases, and long-term neglect in others. Protection risks included the forced recruitment of children into armed forces and groups, and rape and sexual violence against women and girls. In Somalia, recruitment of internally displaced children by insurgent groups continued to be reported in 2009. In DRC, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal and Somalia, displaced children also suffered from lack of access to education or disruptions in education due to ongoing insecurity. In DRC, over 8,000 women were reportedly raped in 2009, while many more were estimated to have suffered unreported sexual violence and abuse. Rape and sexual violence against IDPs were also observed or reported in Burundi, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia and Sudan.

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1882 and Resolution 1888 to counter violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, against women and children in armed conflicts. If actively implemented, monitored and evaluated, these measures will have an important impact on the lives of IDPs in Africa, especially if they also lead to the development of humanitarian response programmes that help survivors cope with the trauma and impact of these crimes.

In the Great Lakes region, the Protocol to the Great Lakes Pact on the Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violence against Women and Children also addresses the problem of
rape and sexual violence in Africa. Ratification must now be followed by concrete actions by member states to realise commitments to ensure the prosecution of perpetrators and the protection of women and children who are survivors of sexual violence in the Great Lakes Region. While several countries, including CAR and Chad, were in the process of drafting national policies or laws to protect and assist IDPs, and while others such as Burundi, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire had developed draft IDP policies or laws which were awaiting enactment, only Sudan and Uganda had national IDP policies and only Liberia had incorporated the Guiding Principles into domestic law.

As in previous years, the international response to internal displacement in African countries in 2009 included the implementation of the humanitarian reform and the cluster approach to coordinate the delivery of assistance and improve the protection of IDPs, and the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops following UN Security Council resolutions. By the end of 2009, 12 countries in Africa had implemented the cluster approach, including Burundi, CAR, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe (where the protection cluster was activated during the year). Six countries had UN peacekeeping forces: MINURCAT in CAR and Chad, UNOCI in Côte d’Ivoire, MONUC in DRC, UNMIL in Liberia and UNAMID and UNMIS in Sudan. MONUC, the largest UN peacekeeping mission in the world with 20,000 troops, was sharply criticised by international NGOs for its seemingly unconditional support to the Congolese army’s operations, and the lack of clear rules of engagement to protect civilians.

Several African countries face elections in 2010, including Burundi, CAR, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Sudan. It is to be hoped that the conduct and outcomes of these elections pave the way for peace processes which have a real positive impact on the lives of IDPs and returnees.