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afrol News, 29 January - The African continent has more internally displaced persons (IDPs) than the rest of the world put together - with numbers continuing to rise, according to new analysis by the Global IDP Database. There are four times as many internally displaced as refugees on the continent. According to the Database, the number of internally displaced persons in Africa reached 13.5 million during the second half of 2001. This was an increase of more than 5 million since 1998. In contrast, Africa's refugee population was estimated to be 3.6 million by the beginning of 2001. The magnitude of internal displacement in Africa reflects an increase in armed conflicts since the beginning of the 1990s. Currently, it affects at least one third of the continent's 54 countries, according to Andreas Danevad, the coordinator of the database. - The protracted wars in Angola, Sudan and Congo Kinshasa (DRC) have, together, produced a total of 10 million internally displaced, says Danevad, "representing about 75% of internal displacement in the entire continent." Further, the fighting in Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria had also displaced hundreds of thousands. "Many of the conflicts, while internal in nature, are sustained by external factors - not least cross-border support for armed groups or rebel movements active in resource-rich areas," Danevad says. The IDP Database is run by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The NRC has, over the past four years, observed a pattern of civilians becoming displaced because armed groups are deliberately targeting them, either to loot villages for supplies, or in many cases to forcibly conscript people as fighters or effective slaves, exploiting them both physically and sexually. According to the council, displaced persons are often less likely than refugees to find shelter in organised camps or protected areas, forcing them to seek refuge in host communities already exhausted by the effects of war, or to hide in the bush with little or no access to humanitarian assistance. - A main concern is the lack of physical protection and the limited humanitarian assistance that reach the internally displaced in Africa, the NRC says in a statement. "In most cases the internally displaced persons have to seek means of survival without regular outside support." - A major reason for this is that humanitarian agencies in general lack safe access to the displaced, the NRC holds. "But inadequate donor response remains a major issue of concern. The breakdown of state structures, civil war and lack of resources make the level of national response towards internally displaced persons, in most cases, negligible." But despite the generally bleak statistics, Danevad says there are "some positive developments." With the disarmament of more than 45,000 former fighters in Sierra Leone, officially marking the end of the country's bloody ten-year civil war, large numbers of displaced persons and refugees have been returning home. And since the 2000 peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea, ending trench warfare reminiscent of World War One, the return processes have gathered pace in both countries. The NRC/ Global IDP Project - of which the Database is a component - works closely with the UN and other organisations to raise awareness and improve response to the situation of the millions of internally displaced around the world. The Database - the only comprehensive information resource of its kind - has a global coverage of conflict-induced displacement in the world, currently registering displacements in 47 countries. Sources: Based on NRC
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