Refugees
Already 1,5 million new African refugees this year

afrol.com, 7 September - At least 1.5 million people in Africa fled their homes during the first eight months of this year because of war, violence, or political repression, the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) announced today. 

The newly uprooted people join millions of other Africans who remain refugees or internally displaced from previous years; a cumulative total of some 14.2 million Africans are currently uprooted and unable to return home. 

During the first eight months of 2000, a minimum of 500,000 people fled their homes in Eritrea because of their country's border war with Ethiopia. A minimum of 430,000 people in Congo-Kinshasa became newly uprooted because of the ongoing war in that country. At least 200,000 people were forced from their homes by continued civil war in Angola. Some 160,000 or more people in Sierra Leone fled during January through August this year because of renewed civil war. 

In addition, during the first two-thirds of the year, at least 60,000 people became new refugees or displaced in Sudan; at least 60,000 additional people fled warfare in Burundi; an additional 50,000 or more fled armed insurgencies in Uganda; religious and political violence in Nigeria pushed at least 50,000 from their homes; 30,000 additional people fled in Liberia; and 5,000 or more fled new eruptions of violence in Somalia. 

The USCR estimate of newly uprooted Africans is based on extensive monitoring of public and private field reports by UN humanitarian agencies, private international relief organizations, and other sources in Africa. Although initial reports of new population upheavals are often inaccurate and frequently are exaggerated because of chaos on the ground, USCR has analyzed the field data to arrive at conservative minimum estimates. 

The USCR estimate, in fact, might well undercount hundreds of thousands of newly uprooted people at locations in Africa where inadequate reporting makes estimates difficult. Higher unconfirmed estimates of new refugees and internal displacement produced in Africa so far this year run as high as 2.3 million. 

"The fact that 1.5 million additional people have become uprooted in Africa during the past eight months is a jolt," said Jeff Drumtra, senior Africa policy analyst at USCR. "The international community has responded shamefully to Africa's new emergencies by curtailing food deliveries this year and leaving major relief programs drastically under-funded. The U.S. Congress is poised to pass an appropriations bill in the next few days that would cut assistance to African refugees to its lowest level in more than a decade. Congress is also prepared to reduce funding for humanitarian relief to internally displaced persons worldwide by as much as $60 million-a cut of more than 25 percent." 

Drumtra added that an appropriations bill passed by the House, and pending in a House-Senate conference committee, would eliminate U.S. funding for all UN peacekeeping efforts in Africa. 

Eritrea
- Newly uprooted: 500,000 minimum. (Higher estimates: 650,000) 
- Cause: border war with Ethiopia. 
- Minimum estimate includes populations uprooted during military offensive by Ethiopian troops in May-June. Minimum estimate does not include several thousand Eritreans who fled in August from areas occupied by Ethiopian troops; does not include larger displacement estimates by Eritrean authorities. 
- Total now uprooted, including from previous years: 1 million. (Higher estimates: 1.25 million)

Congo-Kinshasa (DRC)
- Newly uprooted: 430,000 minimum. (Higher estimates: 540,000])   
- Cause: civil war; war with neighboring countries. 
- Minimum estimate includes UN assessment that more than 400,000 Congolese became internally displaced in first half of year; 30,000 new Congolese refugees to Tanzania, Zambia, and Congo-Brazzaville. Minimum estimate does not include UN estimate of 100,000 additional newly displaced Congolese; does not include reports of an additional 20,000 new Congolese refugees in Congo-Brazzaville. 
-Total now uprooted, including from previous years: 1.4 million. (Higher estimates: 1.7 million)

Angola
- Newly uprooted:  200,000 minimum. (Higher estimates: 250,000) 
- Cause:  civil war; current violence in eight of country's 15 provinces. 
- Minimum estimate includes approximately 200,000 new internally displaced persons; 10,000 to 15,000 new Angolan refugees in Zambia. Minimum estimate does not include sizable August population movements into central cities of Kuito and Uige; does not include reports of uncounted numbers recently uprooted in contested border areas. 
- Total now uprooted, including from previous years: 1.8 million to 2.5 million.

Sierra Leone
- Newly uprooted: 160,000 minimum. (Higher estimates: 270,000) 
- Cause:  renewed civil war. 
- Minimum estimate includes at least 100,000 newly uprooted persons registered by aid agencies nationwide; at least 50,000 newly displaced living on their own nationwide; 7,000 newly displaced in northern town of Bubuna in August; at least 6,000 new Sierra Leonean refugees to Guinea. Minimum estimate does not include additional 50,000 newly uprooted people reportedly registered by aid agencies; does not include reports of several thousand additional new uncounted refugees in Guinea; does not include highest estimates for newly displaced population congregated at Mile 91 in central Sierra Leone or Port Loko in the north. 
- Total uprooted, including from previous years:  750,000. (Higher estimates: 1 million)

Sudan
- Newly uprooted:  60,000 minimum. (Higher estimates: 150,000)
- Cause: civil war; government policies. 
- Minimum estimate includes nearly 50,000 new internally displaced persons in southern Bentiu oil-producing area in August; 10,000 new Sudanese refugees in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia. Minimum estimate does not include unconfirmed reports of tens of thousands of newly displaced persons in inaccessible areas of Western Upper Nile Province; does not include possible new population displacement in central Sudan's Nuba Mountain area; does not include unconfirmed reports of recent population flight from government-controlled southern town of Wau; does not include uncounted numbers of newly uprooted people near northeastern town of Kassala; does not include reports of newly uprooted people in western Darfur Province. 
- Total now uprooted, including from previous years:  4.4 million.

Burundi
- Newly uprooted: 60,000 minimum. (Higher estimates:  100,000+) 
- Cause:  civil war. 
- Minimum estimate includes nearly 40,000 new Burundian refugees to Tanzania; 30,000 new internally displaced in southern Makamba Province. Minimum estimate does not include new internal displacement in eastern provinces where violence is ongoing; does not include newest displacement caused by violence and government policies near Bujumbura, the capital. 
- Total now uprooted, including from previous years:  1 million.

Uganda
- Newly uprooted:  50,000 minimum. (Higher estimates:  200,000)
- Cause:  armed insurgencies in north and southwest. 
- Minimum estimate includes new displacement of 50,000 people in northern districts of Kitgum and Gulu. 
Minimum estimate does not include higher government estimates for displacement in Gulu and Kitgum; does not include possible new population displacement caused by insurgent attacks early in year near southern town of Bundibugyo; does not include population displacement caused by recent insurgent attacks in central Uganda; does not include uncounted displacement triggered by ethnic violence in northern Karamoja area. 
-Total now uprooted, including from previous years:  510,000. (Higher estimates:  840,000)

Nigeria
- Newly uprooted:  50,000 minimum. (Higher estimates:  80,000) 
- Cause:  religious and political violence. 
- Minimum estimate includes Nigerians uprooted in northern central city of Kaduna and nearby areas by violence that reportedly killed 600. Minimum estimate does not include higher estimates of population displacement in northern Nigeria; does not include possible new displacement caused by political tensions in southern oil regions. 
- Total now uprooted, including from previous years: 50,000 to 100,000.

 Liberia
- Newly uprooted:  30,000 minimum. (Higher estimates:  40,000)
- Cause:  civil strife; alleged armed insurgency. 
- Minimum estimate includes reports of 30,000 or more internally displaced persons since July in Lofa County. Minimum estimate does not include higher government estimates for population displacement in Lofa County. 
- Total now uprooted, including from previous years:  230,000. (Higher estimates:  270,000)

Somalia
- Newly uprooted:  5,000 minimum. (Higher estimates:  25,000)
- Cause:  civil strife. 
- Minimum estimate includes new internally displaced persons in south central Somalia in March. Minimum estimate does not include likely displacement caused by violence in key town of Belet Wein in August, fighting south of Mogadishu in July, violence in Baidoa in June, and violence north of Mogadishu in Jowhar. 
- Total now uprooted, including from previous years:  780,000. (Higher estimates:  850,000)

Africa Total 
- Total newly uprooted: 1.54 million minimum. (Higher estimates:  2.3 million.)
- Total now uprooted in Africa, including from previous years:  14.2 million (includes uprooted populations from African countries not listed above).

The U.S. Committee for Refugees is a private, nonprofit, humanitarian organization that works for the protection and assistance of uprooted people around the world. 

Source: U.S. Committee for Refugees

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