IDP News Alert, 6 April 2006

Thousands of people in the north-west of the Central African Republic have been forced to flee their homes in recent weeks as a result of armed raids and increasing violence against civilians. Aid agencies estimate that some 50,000 IDPs are hiding in the forests, while at least 7,000 civilians have crossed the border into Chad. Central African Republic President François Bozizé has blamed rebel forces for the continuous unrest, but refugees in Chad say the massive displacement in the Ouham and Ouham-Pendé provinces has been caused by bandits as well as by government troops who are systematically attacking villages and killing men and boys they suspect of backing rebel groups. Villages between the capital Bangui and the Chadian border are reportedly deserted. Most of the displaced are living in forests without adequate food supplies and have resorted to eating wild roots, often poisonous in the long term, to stay alive. With malnutrition in the country already thought to be very high, although exact figures are not available, WFP has warned that thousands of IDPs risk starvation if food aid does not reach them urgently. But humanitarian assistance in the affected areas remains seriously constrained due to insecurity as well as poor funding.

See also: IDMC Central African Republic country page

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Chad: 30,000 displaced by cross-border attacks in the east

Some 30,000 Chadians have been displaced from their eastern border villages since December 2005 as a result of attacks allegedly perpetrated by Sudanese Janjaweed militia and Chadian rebels. According to the initial findings of a UN inter-agency assessment mission in March 2006, the total number of IDPs in the regions of Goungour, Borota, Koloye, Dogdore/Tur and Goz Beida is estimated at 55,000 - 65,000. Lack of adequate food and water supplies, as well as acute insecurity, are major causes for concern in the border region – which also hosts some 200,000 refugees from the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan. UNHCR has received reports that in mid-March unidentified armed groups entered the camps in Chad and forcefully recruited men and boys, causing other refugees to hide in nearby villages as a precautionary measure. At a mini-summit held in Libya in February 2006, presidents Omar Hassan Al-Bashir of Sudan and Idriss Deby of Chad signed the “Tripoli Declaration” under which they promised to immediately expel armed groups hostile to their respective governments – although tensions between the two countries have continued unabated.

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Uganda: top UN relief official describes northern conflict as “epicentre of terror” while NGO report reveals shocking mortality rates

Describing Uganda’s 20-year conflict that has internally displaced some two million people as the “world’s worst form of terrorism” during a recent tour of the country, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland reiterated calls for enhanced international action to promote security in the region. Egeland’s recommendations included the appointment of a UN special envoy to address the regional aspects of conflict. His visit  coincided with the publication of a report by the Civil Society Organisations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU), a coalition of 50 international and local organisations, stating that overall rates of violent death are three times higher than those reported in Iraq following the Allied invasion in 2003, and that 129 people die every day as a result of violence and conditions in IDP camps. The Ugandan government has disputed these figures. CSOPNU recommended that the UN Security Council appoint a panel of experts to investigate the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as well as a high level envoy to reinvigorate peace efforts. Recent attacks by the LRA in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan have undermined humanitarian operations in both countries and presented a clear threat to regional peace and security – a threat readily acknowledged in a recent UN Security Council resolution on Sudan.

See also: IDMC Uganda country page

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Burma: at least 7,000 people displaced by further army attacks in Karen state

Systematic attacks by the Burmese army against villages in the country’s eastern Karen state has displaced at least 7,000 ethnic Karen people in recent weeks, according to the Thailand-based NGO, Free Burma Rangers – a significant increase on previous estimates. The Burmese army has attacked villages with mortars and burned down houses, subsequently planting landmines to prevent the return of fleeing populations. The army operation is part of an ongoing effort to force remaining Karen rebel groups in the area out of hiding by cutting off all civilian support. The army similarly targets IDP settlements in the forest, in part by preventing any assistance from reaching them. The largest concentration of IDPs in Burma is found among ethnic groups in the east of the country, near the border with Thailand, with an estimated 540,000 IDPs either in hiding or in relocation sites as a result of widespread human rights abuses committed mostly by the Burmese army and its allies, and to a lesser extent by insurgent groups. The IDP situation in Burma is widely regarded as Asia’s worst.

See also: IDMC Burma country page

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Iraq: ongoing sectarian violence displaces at least 40,000 people

At least 40,000 Iraqis have been internally displaced in recent weeks as a direct result of sectarian violence and intimidation sparked by the February attack on the Shi’ite Al-Askariya shrine in the city of Samarra, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration. Both Sunni and Shi’ite militants are targeting people across the country on the basis of their religious affiliation, and around 1,000 civilians are being forced from their homes every day.  Amid continuously deteriorating security conditions, government officials have warned that the scale of displacement is expected to increase. At the same time, violence has also been targeted against the 34,000 Palestinians living in Iraq, most of them in Baghdad. According to UNHCR, more than 100 Palestinian families have recently received written death threats from armed groups aiming to evict them on the basis that they received special privileges under Saddam Hussein. Some 120 Palestinians have already fled from Baghdad, and are now stranded at the Iraqi-Jordanian border where they face a precarious humanitarian situation.

See also: IDMC Iraq country page

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Colombia: displaced indigenous people face humanitarian emergency – UNHCR

More than 1,700 Wounaan indigenous people have been forced to flee their homes in Colombia’s north-western Chocó region after two of their leaders were assassinated by members of a guerrilla group in late March, according to UNHCR. The displaced are now facing a “looming humanitarian emergency”, says the refugee agency. The assassinations created panic among the Wounaan community and raised fears that other leaders would be killed by the same armed group. Around eight per cent of IDPs in Colombia are indigenous people, while they comprise only two or three per cent of the whole population. Indigenous people have been increasingly subjected to forced displacement from their land, assassination, threats and other abuses at the hands of various armed groups who have taken over large parts of their territory. A cumulative total of more than 3.5 million people have been forcibly displaced since the Colombian conflict started in 1985 according to CODHES, a national NGO, whereas government figures  have been consistently lower.

See also: IDMC Colombia country page
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