Eastern Africa host to 8.52 million displaced people
As of October 2012, there were 8,515,310 people displaced in Burundi, (eastern) DRC, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Of these, 2,041,675 are refugees and 6,473,635 are internally displaced persons (IDPs). Starting August 2012, the coverage of this report has been extended to include Sudan and South Sudan, which as of the end of September 2012 were host to an estimated 1,935,000 IDPs and 349,000 refugees.
IDPs in the region are mainly a result of internal armed conflicts and insecurity. Additionally, some IDPs result from various difficult climatic conditions such as flooding, drought and landslides. These IDPs are usually temporary and their estimates were not readily available. DRC, Somalia and Sudan host the highest number of IDPs at 2.43 million, 1.36 million and 1.77 million people, respectively. Since April, frequent and widespread fighting in eastern DRC has pushed thousands to leave their homes, especially in North Kivu Province. An estimated 400,000 people were displaced internally in DRC, while another 80,000 people were compelled to flee into Burundi, Uganda, and Rwanda in the past six months. IDP figures in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia remain unchanged as no new verification of the population was undertaken during the reporting period. Significant progress has however been made in the protection and resettlement of IDPs in Kenya and Uganda.
