Nearly 11 million IDPs and refugees in Central and East Africa

(New York/Nairobi, 7 January 2009): An estimated 9.1 million people in Central and Eastern Africa are currently internally displaced, while another 1.8 million people live as refugees across the region, according to a new report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Seventy-two percent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in the Greater Horn of Africa region, reflecting mainly the combined internal displacement from the crises in Sudan and Somalia, according to the Displaced Populations Report for July-December 2008.

Displacement in the region is triggered mainly by intra-state conflicts and natural disasters such as floods and drought. Frequently, several of these problems affect a country or a region at the same time, prompting both large in-country and cross-border population movements and creating complex humanitarian emergencies.

Chad, Tanzania and Kenya host the largest numbers of refugees from conflicts in neighbouring states. For example, 252,313 or 81 percent of all refugees in Kenya are from Somalia.

Sudan has the highest rate of internal displacement, three times more than any other country in the region. However, the number of IDPs in Uganda has steadily declined due to government-led return programmes. In Somalia, the number of IDPs has continued to grow as a result of internal conflict and general insecurity. The number of internally displaced persons in Somalia rose by 200,000 between July and December 2008 and now stands at 1.3 million.

Scarcity of resources, limited access to land and inconclusive peace and reconciliation processes create multiple challenges to return for IDPs and refugees across the region, according to the report, which contains data on IDPs in Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

Humanitarian response to both acute and long-term displacement is often hampered by lack of access to the affected people due to ongoing conflict and persistent high insecurity including targeting of humanitarian workers and assets, the report notes.

Data used in the report was obtained from UN agencies, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement, governments and local authorities.

On 18 December, marking the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes launched a global campaign to raise awareness about the plight of IDPs. The campaign focus in 2009 will be on preventing displacement and finding solutions to the problem.

For further information, please call: Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1917 892 1679, bunker@un.org; Nicholas Reader +1 212 963 4961, mobile +1 646 752 3117,reader@un.org, John Nyaga, OCHA-NY, + 1 917 367 9262, nyagaj@un.org; Elisabeth Byrs OCHAGeneva,+41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570, byrs@un.org OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int