Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme
Sixty-third session
Geneva, 1-5 October 2012
Update on UNHCR’s operations in Africa
While new or escalating refugee emergencies continue to command a decisive part of UNHCR’s attention and resources in Africa in 2012, the region has continued to present opportunities to bring long-standing refugee situations to a close. Some of these situations have been successfully resolved while others present a number of remaining challenges.
A. Situational analysis including new developments
Since January 2012, when violence erupted in northern Mali, more than 450,000 people have been forced to flee internally or to neighbouring countries. UNHCR estimates that there are now almost 270,000 refugees in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger. Registration is ongoing despite difficulties in accessing and registering a mobile refugee population. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is estimated at some 186,000. Weak funding support for the Mali situation has obliged UNHCR to limit its assistance to life-saving interventions.
By the end of August 2012, some 175,000 people fleeing fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in the Sudan had sought refuge in Upper Nile and Unity states, in South Sudan, and an additional 35,000 had fled into Benishangul-Gumuz regional state in western Ethiopia, triggering a large-scale humanitarian emergency. In Unity state, despite efforts to encourage the refugees to move to areas of greater safety, some 60,000 refugees remained close to the border in Yida, where sanitary conditions deteriorated significantly since the onset of the rainy season. Substantial resources have been deployed to Unity and Upper Nile states, but challenges remain, such as the lack of basic infrastructure and local technical capacity and difficulties in transporting equipment during the rainy season.
In Darfur, while the general trend has been a reduction in violence, pockets of insecurity remained in areas under the control of rebel movements, where fighting continued. While more than 37,000 IDPs have voluntarily returned to their homes, there are still 1.75 million IDPs living in camps and mixed settlements in the five states. Restricted access to many areas in Darfur has seriously impeded the Office’s ability to operate and respond to the needs of the displaced populations.
In the Horn of Africa, the month of August was marked by the conclusion of the Somalia political transition, with the swearing in of the Lower House of Parliament and the election of the Speaker of the new Somali Federal Parliament. Despite these developments, more than a quarter of Somalia’s population remains displaced with some 1.36 million IDPs and one million refugees in the region, including some 55,000 who fled the country in 2012. In Dadaab, Kenya, the security situation deteriorated following the kidnapping of humanitarian workers in September 2011 and due to the use of improvised explosive devices. Three humanitarian workers abducted in Dadaab are still being held hostage. The situation deteriorated further in June 2012 with the abduction of four humanitarian workers and the killing of their driver. The four were released soon after the incident. The Kenyan Government’s deployment of an additional 320 policemen, combined with innovative security management approaches devised by UNHCR and its partners, have enabled essential operations to continue.
In Ethiopia, UNHCR continued to respond to two emergency situations involving more than 160,000 refugees arriving from Somalia and the Sudan since early 2011, as well the ongoing arrival of refugees from Eritrea. The provision of health and nutrition services in all camps remained a key priority and has resulted in a decline in mortality rates, particularly in Dollo Ado.
Since violence erupted in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in April 2012, an estimated 390,000 people have been internally displaced and more than 60,000 have fled into neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda. In Rwanda, all new arrivals have been registered and received assistance at the Nkamira Transit Centre, and nearly 14,000 refugees have been relocated to the new camp in Kigeme. By the end of August, more than 40,000 new arrivals from the DRC had been registered in the Nyakabanda transit centre in southern Uganda, in addition to the 81,500 Congolese refugees already hosted in the country. The majority of the new arrivals are relocated to a former refugee settlement called Rwamwanja, which needs to be entirely rehabilitated.