A new report has indicated that Ethiopia is globally ranked the top country with the largest number of conflict induced internal displacements, The Reporter has learnt.
According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Center’s (IDMC) 2019 Global report on internal displacement, 16.5 million people are living in internal displacements in Sub-Saharan Africa as the result of conflicts.
“Against a backdrop of important and many positive political changes, 2.9 million new displacements associated with conflict were recorded in Ethiopia, the highest figure in the world and four times as many as in 2017,” reads the report.
“Old conflicts became more entrenched and new conflicts escalated along various regional state borders, prompting the government to establish a new Ministry of Peace in response to the increasing violence,” the report added.
A couple of month back Ethiopian government introduces a new strategy to assist and support those who are internally displaced. By the time, the government said it needs at least USD 700 million to cover the costs of implementing the strategy.
The strategy includes return, reintegration or relocation of those who are displaced across the country because of conflicts.
The strategic plan was developed by international humanitarian organizations, the Ministry of Peace and the National Disaster Risk Management Commission.
“It had an objective to ensure voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return/relocation of conflict-displaced population in seven regions and one administrative city through the guarantee of law and order, community mobilization for peace and reconciliation, full rehabilitation of the livelihood and public infrastructure in return areas, and recovery support in relocation areas,” according to a Ethiopia Humanitarian Key Messages April 2019, issued upon the introduction of the strategic plan.
Despite the fact that the government began to return those who were displaced to their initial homes, some reports particularly from Gedio and Guji indicate that the process have not been conducted voluntarily and IDPs were forced to leave their camp despite security concerns.
The latest report from IDMC also indicate that aside from conflicts natural disasters were also causes of internal displacements where it says 296,000 new displacements attributed to flooding in the Somali region were reported.
