IDP News Alert, 12 June 2008

In Chad, children as young as nine in IDP sites and refugee camps are being kidnapped by their own community leaders and sold to armed groups. The NGO Waging Peace has reported this practice taking place in full view of the Chadian army and European Union troops. The UN estimates that between 7,000 and 10,000 children in eastern Chad have been recruited by military, rebel and paramilitary groups.

Government officials and rebel leaders in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) have agreed to release hundreds of child soldiers, in meetings with the UN’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy. Although UNICEF has signed agreements with both governments for the demobilisation of child soldiers, accessing resources for their protection and reintegration into communities of origin remains difficult.

In CAR, where IDP children have been recruited by rebel groups, Ms. Coomaraswamy raised the issue of sexual violence against recruited girls. She stressed the need to assist the victims, and called for the prosecution of perpetrators of grave violations against children. Bush schools have been set up in northern CAR as a temporary solution for displaced children.

See also: IDMC Chad and Central African Republic country pages


Back to top
Sudan: Abyei agreement to allow IDPs to return after fierce fighting

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir, the country’s first vice-president and president of Southern Sudan, have signed an agreement to defuse the conflict over the oil-rich Abyei region, where fierce fighting between northern and southern troops in May led to the displacement of about 50,000 people. The agreement provides for the return of those displaced. Kiir said: “With this road map we will be able to create a conducive security environment that will allow the return of the people of Abyei area to their homes with dignity and without fear.” The two sides have agreed to give the UN free access to help displaced people return to their homes by 30 June.

Meanwhile, IDPs from the Dinka tribe in the state of Southern Kordofan, north of Abyei, have been attacked. After Abyei fell under the control of Sudan Alliance Forces troops and fighters from the Misseriya tribe on 20 May, IDPs living in villages around the town of Mugled were reportedly attacked by Misseriya tribesmen. Many had moved to Mugled in the hope of getting protection from the authorities. Escape routes out of the region are controlled by the Baggara tribe, who have reportedly looted the belongings of Dinka IDPs trying to leave the area.

See also: IDMC Sudan country page


Back to top
Somalia: Thousands displaced in fresh fighting

IRIN reports that an estimated 100 people were killed, 200 wounded and thousands displaced from their homes in the Somali capital Mogadishu over the weekend, following renewed fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents. Medical sources said many of those brought to hospital were women and children.

Meanwhile, officials in the town of Dobley on the border with Kenya have appealed for urgent help for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had fled the violence in Mogadishu and who failed to cross the border into Kenya.

See also: IDMC Somalia country page


Back to top
Democratic Republic of the Congo: FDLR attacks IDP camp

A Rwandan Hutu rebel group, the Forces armées pour la libération du Rwanda (FDLR), attacked two IDP camps in DRC’s North Kivu Province on 4 June. Exchanges of gun fire took place between the group and Congolese soldiers, putting IDPs in grave danger. At least six people were killed and another 20 injured, and several international NGOs suspended their operations in the area following the attack.

Over 1.3 million are internally displaced in DRC, including at least 846,000 people displaced in North Kivu Province as a result of fighting. While people in the DRC have traditionally found refuge with relatives, friends and strangers, more and more are now resorting to camps and spontaneous settlements, as the resident population’s capacity to cope with the influx declines.

See also: IDMC DRC country page


Back to top
Kenya: Government seeking more accurate IDP data

According to the Standard newspaper, the Government’s of Kenya’s Director of Mitigation and Settlement Wilfred Ndolo has admitted that the government has no accurate data on displaced people, although it is embarking on an IDP return programme. The government has therefore started a fresh exercise to register IDPs. “We now want to know how many people were displaced,” said Ndolo.

See also: IDMC Kenya country page


Back to top
Côte d’Ivoire: Lands solutions and reconciliation essential to IDP returns

UN Security Council delegates have praised the progress in Côte d’Ivoire’s peace process and shared the Ivorian people’s desire for peace and reconciliation. The road to elections, fixed for 30 November 2008, however, is not without challenges. As highlighted by Human Rights Watch, there have already been reports of alleged violence and intimidation ahead of the polls by youth groups supporting president Laurent Gbagbo.
                                                                      
Land disputes are a common occurrence and regularly affect the possibility of reaching durable solutions to displacement. In response, several peace and reconciliation meetings have in the past months have brought together IDP returnees and local communities in western Côte d’Ivoire to address obstacles in returnees’ access to their plantations.

See also: IDMC Côte d’Ivoire country page


Back to top
Myanmar (Burma): Villagers flee army attacks in Karen State

More than 1,000 people from Papun District in the Karen State of eastern Myanmar (Burma) have been displaced from their villages after a series of attacks and acts of violence by the Burmese army. According to relief groups in the State, Burmese army battalions attacked Te Mu Der village on 4 June, burning rice barns and destroying homes. The villagers from Te Mu Der and seven nearby villages were forced to flee their homes and are now in makeshift camps in the surrounding jungle, afraid to return to their homes.

The latest attack is part of a campaign by the Burmese government against the principal rebel group in the state. According to a report by Amnesty International, the current campaign against the Karen National Union has civilians as the primary targets. “If they found us they would kill us, because for the Burmese army the Karen and the Karen National Union are one,” a 35-year-old villager in Thandaung township told Amnesty.

See also: IDMC Myanmar (Burma) country page
Back to top