Human rights violations and conflicts
continue to cause displacement
3 September, 2009 | Rileif Web
For decades, Ethiopia has been affected by famine and conflict. In
2009, there have been various reports of internal displacement resulting
from conflicts and human rights violations perpetrated by the army and
groups opposed to the government. It is difficult to establish the number
of internally displaced people (IDPs) as neither the government nor any
international organisation has undertaken a profiling exercise. The
access of humanitarian and human rights organisations and the media to
some areas of the country has been restricted.
The ongoing conflicts in Somali Region between the army and the
Ogaden National Liberation Front, and in the south and south-west of
the country with the Oromo Liberation Front, both pose serious
security, humanitarian and protection challenges. The impact on
civilians of the conflict in Somali Region has been likened to that of
Darfur. Meanwhile, there are also conflicts in at least five of the
country's nine regions with causes ranging from competition over
scarce water and pasture resources to disputes over administrative
boundaries. In February 2009 alone, some 160,000 people were driven
from their homes by conflict between the Garre of the Somali region
and the Boran of the Oromiya region over a contested piece of land.
Displacement in Ethiopia is well documented but there is no evidence of
durable solutions for IDPs. There is no agency or ministry mandated to
respond to issues of forced internal displacement. Even though Ethiopia
is actively involved in the drafting of the African Union convention on
internally displaced people, there is growing evidence to suggest that
conflicts in the country have far-reaching implications for protection
and humanitarian assistance for internally displaced people. In a context
of widespread impunity, no-one sanctioning violence that leads to
displacement has been prosecuted.
The absence of political efforts to resolve internal conflicts and the
continuing border dispute with Eritrea presents an ongoing serious risk
of renewed conflict and displacement in the Horn of Africa. If the
government does not improve humanitarian access, affected IDPs and
other vulnerable people will continue to face a protection and
humanitarian crisis.
Background: locations and causes of conflict and displacement
For decades, Ethiopia has faced severe famines and regional and
international conflicts. From 1977 to 1978 it waged a war with Somalia
in which the USA and USSR were involved, it fought a border war with
Eritrea between 1998 and 2000, and from 2007 to early 2009 its army
was pitted against insurgents (supported by Eritrea) and other nationalist
groups in Somalia (The Enough Project, 9 February 2009).
Ethiopia was transformed from a unitary state to an ethnic federal state
in 1994 by the new government led by the Ethiopian Peoples
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which seized power from
the Dergue government of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. This new
constitutional order was intended to redress the ethno-national
grievances among the many ethnic groups in the country (International
Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 2008).
However, despite this system of ethnic federalism under which the
country is divided into ethnically-defined regions and zones, in almost all
cases, displacement was triggered by conflict between different ethnic
groups over access to political power or scarce resources such as
water and pastoral or agricultural land. There are several conflict-
induced displacement situations in Ethiopia, the largest occurring in the
administrative regions of Somali, Oromiya, Gambella and Tigray. In
addition to these, the government's counter-insurgency activities in
regions such as Oromiya, Somali, and Gambella have led to serious
human rights violations which have also led to displacement of civilians
(HRW, June 2008; ISS, May 2007).
In November 2008, a study undertaken by the Ethiopian NGO African
Rally for Peace and Development (ARPD) showed internal armed
conflicts in most of the regions of Ethiopia, including Oromiya, Tigray,
Somali, Southern Nationalities and Peoples Republic (SNNPR), Afar,
Gambella, and Benishangul-Gumuz (ARPD, November 2008). The US
State Department's 2008 Human Rights Report on Ethiopia reported that
ethnically-based conflicts in western, eastern and southern areas had
resulted in an increase in killings and injuries since 2007 and the
displacement of tens of thousands of people (USDoS, 25 February
2009).
According to ARPD, the major causes of conflicts within Ethiopia's
regions are ethnicity, disputed border and administrative arrangements,
the impact on the distribution of resources and power, large-scale
spontaneous and planned migration, religious differences, and mineral
extraction.
The Borena zone of Oromiya Region, Gambella Region and SNNPR
have witnessed recent intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic conflicts (ARPD,
November 2008; ISS, 1 May 2007). In August 2008, inter-clan conflict
displaced almost 13,000 people in Gambella Region (interview with
OCHA, 5 June 2009).
Even though numbers of people displaced by conflict and human rights
violations are not easy to establish due to the restrictions that are placed
on the activities of media reporters and humanitarian organisations
wishing to profile populations in need, the UN and other international
organisations estimate that over 300,000 people are displaced by conflict
or violence in Ethiopia in 2009 (interviews in Addis Ababa, June 2009).
Somali Region
The conflict between the government and the Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF) in Somali Region has continued into 2009
(BBC, 9 March 2009; Garoweonline, 8 March 2009). In an August 2009
Al-Jazeera interview, Genocide Watch founder and president Gregory
Stanton and the human rights activist Fowsia Abdulkadir described a
"genocide-like" situation comparable to Darfur, with reports of killings
and burning of villages despite the army's severe access restrictions on
the media and humanitarian organisations (Al-Jazeera, 9 August 2009).
These restrictions make it impossible to establish the number or
situation of people displaced by the conflict in Somali region (The
Christian Science Monitor, 26 February 2008; Reuters, 27 February
2008; VOA, 25 February 2009). However, many analysts talk of
displacements of hundreds of thousands of people (interviews in 2009
in Addis Ababa, Geneva, and Nairobi).
According to a 2008 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, the
government's counter-insurgency campaign against the ONLF, designed
to cut off civilian support to the ONLF and concentrate its rural support
base in designated larger villages and towns, had caused widespread
forced displacement, particularly between June and August 2007. The
government had ordered civilians to relocate from small villages and
pastoralist settlements to designated towns throughout the conflict-
affected zones, typically ordering the villagers and nomads to move
within two to seven days. To secure compliance with the evacuation
orders, the army had repeatedly implemented a phased system of terror
involving the confiscation and killing of livestock, public executions, and
the destruction of villages by burning (HRW, June 2008; p.33).
Oromiya Region
Another rebel group operates in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya
and claims to be fighting for the autonomy of the Oromo people. The
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has fought the Ethiopian army since
1973. Little information is available on how this conflict has caused
displacement due to government restrictions. In August 2009, the
government summoned the Ambassador of Kenya, demanding that his
government stop a private media company in Kenya airing an
investigation on the OLF (Daily Nation, 6 August 2009).
Conflicts over disputed administrative borders
In October 2008, approximately 100,000 people were displaced as a
result of conflict in the Filtu and Hudet areas over a disputed border
between the ethnically-defined Oromiya and Somali Regions (IDMC
interview, Addis Ababa, 9 June 2009). In the majority of cases, people
sought shelter with host communities, while others scattered in the
surrounding bush.
In early 2009, ethnic clashes between Somali and Oromo ethnic groups
displaced tens of thousands of people. The conflict was triggered when
the Oromiya regional authorities started drilling a borehole on contested
land close to the dividing line between the Oromiya and Somali Regions,
which has never been properly demarcated. When the Garre Somalis
destroyed the rig, members of the Borana clan mobilised to take
revenge, angry at what they saw as years of Somali encroachment.
Some 300 people lost their lives during the conflict (BBC, 26 February
2009). Initial reports suggested 70,000 people were displaced (BBC, 13
March 2009), but regional government officials later put the figure at
over 150,000 (interview with Somali and Oromiya officials in Moyale,
17 June 2008).
In October 2008, almost 18,000 people were displaced in Alaba district
of SNNPR as a result of inter-ethnic conflict between the Arsi and the
Alaba over a disputed administrative boundary (IDMC interview, Addis
Ababa, 9 June 2009).
Physical security
HRW has reported that serious human rights violations have taken place
in areas affected by conflict and displacement, and that the government
has not investigated or brought to account the perpetrators (HRW,
January 2009). A June 2008 HRW report on Somali region was very
critical of the human rights records of both the Ethiopian government
and army and the ONLF. According to HRW, violations included
military attacks on civilians and their villages, while continuing abuses
by both rebels and Ethiopian troops were posing a direct threat to the
survival of people remaining in war-affected areas, and creating a
pervasive culture of fear (HRW, June 2008).
HRW also reported a military campaign of forced relocations and
destruction of villages in 2007 (HRW, June 2008). Villagers told HRW
how the army killed herders and other fleeing civilians, and burned
homes, property and food stocks (HRW, 3 October 2007). Reuters also
reported that the burning of villages was forcing locals to flee to the
bush where their basic needs were unmet (Reuters, 4 September 2007).
Similar allegations of the army committing human rights violations
against the civilian population in the Somali Region were also
documented by Amnesty International, the US Department of State and
Genocide Watch (AI, 28 May 2009; USDoS, 25 February 2009; Al-
Jazeera, 9 August 2009).
Satellite images have backed up reports that the Ethiopian army has
burnt towns and villages in Somali Region. The American Association
for the Advancement of Science says the images confirm the HRW
report and show the army systematically ill-treating civilians in their
counter-insurgency campaign (BBC, 12 June 2008).
Gender-based violence is also said to be widespread in Somali region,
which is reportedly openly countenanced by the army. Several
witnesses have reported that they were gang-raped to the point of
unconsciousness by soldiers (Al-Jazeera, 9 August 2009; HRW, June
2008; Reuters, 27 February 2008).
In the February 2009 conflict between the Garre-Somali and the
Oromiya-Boran, 300 lives were lost. The BBC reported that many of the
displaced had had their villages destroyed and their property stolen
(BBC, 13 March 2009).
Landmines continue to hamper the free movement of people in conflict
areas. Ethiopia is one of the most heavily-mined countries in Africa. A
Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) survey found that 1.9 million people
were at risk and identified almost 1,500 communities affected by
landmines (Afrol News, 15 April 2009).
Humanitarian access
The activities of aid workers have been severely restricted in regions
such as Somali. Humanitarian agencies have since 2008 been granted
permission to deliver food but the military escorts still hinder full access
(Daily Telegraph, 17 October 2008; BBC News, 19 September 2008;
The Times, 18 September 2008). The army has maintained control over
humanitarian aid by accompanying convoys, and determining whether it
is safe for a delivery to go ahead. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has
been denied access to Somali Region, and has called on the government
to immediately allow its teams to provide assistance to people in the
region who are facing an increasingly desperate situation (MSF, 4
September 2007). In July 2008, the Swiss arm of MSF halted its
operations in the Region, due to the obstacles put in its way. According
to the organisation's statement: "The authorities' attitude towards
humanitarian organisations has translated into recurrent arrests of MSF
Switzerland staff without charge or explanation… Despite continuous
attempts to improve the working relations with authorities, our
organisation can only regret the absence of any room to bring
independent and impartial assistance." (IRIN, 10 July 2008)
Insecurity in some parts of the country has also hindered aid delivery.
In September 2008, two aid workers working for an international
organisation were kidnapped by gunmen in Somali Region (BBC, 23
September 2008).
National and international responses
The absence of political effort to resolve internal conflicts and the
continuing border dispute with Eritrea presents an ongoing serious risk
of renewed conflict in the Horn of Africa, with potential for large-scale
displacement and severe humanitarian consequences. At a recent joint
meeting between the House of the Federation and representatives of all
nine regional governments in Benishangul-Gumuz Region, regional
governments accused the federal authorities of not doing enough to help
them contain conflicts in the regions (The Reporter, 15 August 2009).
The government's strong control of humanitarian response mechanisms
has left many of the disasters either unreported or played down.
Responses have been fragmented, inadequate, late, and have left
affected populations in an even worse situation (interview in Geneva,
November 2008). For example, government food distribution policies
have reportedly prevented assistance reaching people in need (AI,
2009); The Telegraph, 17 October 2008; BBC News, 19 September
2008; The Times, 18 September 2008, IRIN, 10 July 2008).
If the government does not improve humanitarian access, affected IDPs
and other vulnerable people will continue to face a protection and
humanitarian crisis (ICG, 17 June 2008). USAID reported in March
2008 that "literally hundreds of areas… have neither been assessed nor
received any food assistance", with "populations terrorised by the
inability to access food" (The Times, 18 September 2008). The British
Channel 4 reported that the army had withheld food from villages in
Somali Region as part of a "scorched earth" policy against the ONLF
(BBC, 19 September 2008; The Times, 18 September 2008). Before the
British Minister for International Development toured a hospital in the
town of Kebri Dehar during a visit to Somali Region in October 2008,
local officials forced starving infants out of the emergency ward and on
to the street (The Telegraph, 17 October 2008).
There is no dedicated government agency or office or a focal point that
is known to be dealing with conflict-induced displacement. In August
2008, the government disbanded the Disaster Prevention and
Preparedness Agency (DPPA) whose responsibilities were to be to
anticipate and prevent disasters and build local capacities to do so as
well and transferred its mandate to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development. Ministry officials now charged with disaster risk
management (DRM) anticipate the increased decentralisation of these
DRM responsibilities. A proposed policy has called for the
mainstreaming of disaster risk management throughout government and
greatly strengthened disaster management capacity at the highest levels
of government. Debates continue within the government regarding the
policy and it is unclear if or when it will be adopted and to what degree
this will deal with conflict-induced displacement (ODI, June 2009).
Government line ministries normally help UN agencies disburse food
and sanitation assistance (OCHA Humanitarian Bulletin, 10 August
2009). In July 2009, the UN disbursed some $6 million towards helping
the Ethiopian government help contain the rising challenges of food
insecurity, malnutrition, and ensure health care and water and sanitation
support, mostly in displacement-affected areas of Somali, Oromiya, and
SNNPR (IRIN, 27 July 2009).
In August 2009, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) recommended to the government "to ensure that
refugees and other vulnerable persons, such as internally displaced
persons, enjoy their rights under national law as well as various
international legal instruments to which it is a party…" The Committee
further requested the State Party to "provide, in its next periodic report,
detailed information on the human rights situation of refugees and
internally displaced persons on its territory…" (CERD, 31 August 2009).
continue to cause displacement
3 September, 2009 | Rileif Web
For decades, Ethiopia has been affected by famine and conflict. In
2009, there have been various reports of internal displacement resulting
from conflicts and human rights violations perpetrated by the army and
groups opposed to the government. It is difficult to establish the number
of internally displaced people (IDPs) as neither the government nor any
international organisation has undertaken a profiling exercise. The
access of humanitarian and human rights organisations and the media to
some areas of the country has been restricted.
The ongoing conflicts in Somali Region between the army and the
Ogaden National Liberation Front, and in the south and south-west of
the country with the Oromo Liberation Front, both pose serious
security, humanitarian and protection challenges. The impact on
civilians of the conflict in Somali Region has been likened to that of
Darfur. Meanwhile, there are also conflicts in at least five of the
country's nine regions with causes ranging from competition over
scarce water and pasture resources to disputes over administrative
boundaries. In February 2009 alone, some 160,000 people were driven
from their homes by conflict between the Garre of the Somali region
and the Boran of the Oromiya region over a contested piece of land.
Displacement in Ethiopia is well documented but there is no evidence of
durable solutions for IDPs. There is no agency or ministry mandated to
respond to issues of forced internal displacement. Even though Ethiopia
is actively involved in the drafting of the African Union convention on
internally displaced people, there is growing evidence to suggest that
conflicts in the country have far-reaching implications for protection
and humanitarian assistance for internally displaced people. In a context
of widespread impunity, no-one sanctioning violence that leads to
displacement has been prosecuted.
The absence of political efforts to resolve internal conflicts and the
continuing border dispute with Eritrea presents an ongoing serious risk
of renewed conflict and displacement in the Horn of Africa. If the
government does not improve humanitarian access, affected IDPs and
other vulnerable people will continue to face a protection and
humanitarian crisis.
Background: locations and causes of conflict and displacement
For decades, Ethiopia has faced severe famines and regional and
international conflicts. From 1977 to 1978 it waged a war with Somalia
in which the USA and USSR were involved, it fought a border war with
Eritrea between 1998 and 2000, and from 2007 to early 2009 its army
was pitted against insurgents (supported by Eritrea) and other nationalist
groups in Somalia (The Enough Project, 9 February 2009).
Ethiopia was transformed from a unitary state to an ethnic federal state
in 1994 by the new government led by the Ethiopian Peoples
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which seized power from
the Dergue government of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. This new
constitutional order was intended to redress the ethno-national
grievances among the many ethnic groups in the country (International
Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 2008).
However, despite this system of ethnic federalism under which the
country is divided into ethnically-defined regions and zones, in almost all
cases, displacement was triggered by conflict between different ethnic
groups over access to political power or scarce resources such as
water and pastoral or agricultural land. There are several conflict-
induced displacement situations in Ethiopia, the largest occurring in the
administrative regions of Somali, Oromiya, Gambella and Tigray. In
addition to these, the government's counter-insurgency activities in
regions such as Oromiya, Somali, and Gambella have led to serious
human rights violations which have also led to displacement of civilians
(HRW, June 2008; ISS, May 2007).
In November 2008, a study undertaken by the Ethiopian NGO African
Rally for Peace and Development (ARPD) showed internal armed
conflicts in most of the regions of Ethiopia, including Oromiya, Tigray,
Somali, Southern Nationalities and Peoples Republic (SNNPR), Afar,
Gambella, and Benishangul-Gumuz (ARPD, November 2008). The US
State Department's 2008 Human Rights Report on Ethiopia reported that
ethnically-based conflicts in western, eastern and southern areas had
resulted in an increase in killings and injuries since 2007 and the
displacement of tens of thousands of people (USDoS, 25 February
2009).
According to ARPD, the major causes of conflicts within Ethiopia's
regions are ethnicity, disputed border and administrative arrangements,
the impact on the distribution of resources and power, large-scale
spontaneous and planned migration, religious differences, and mineral
extraction.
The Borena zone of Oromiya Region, Gambella Region and SNNPR
have witnessed recent intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic conflicts (ARPD,
November 2008; ISS, 1 May 2007). In August 2008, inter-clan conflict
displaced almost 13,000 people in Gambella Region (interview with
OCHA, 5 June 2009).
Even though numbers of people displaced by conflict and human rights
violations are not easy to establish due to the restrictions that are placed
on the activities of media reporters and humanitarian organisations
wishing to profile populations in need, the UN and other international
organisations estimate that over 300,000 people are displaced by conflict
or violence in Ethiopia in 2009 (interviews in Addis Ababa, June 2009).
Somali Region
The conflict between the government and the Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF) in Somali Region has continued into 2009
(BBC, 9 March 2009; Garoweonline, 8 March 2009). In an August 2009
Al-Jazeera interview, Genocide Watch founder and president Gregory
Stanton and the human rights activist Fowsia Abdulkadir described a
"genocide-like" situation comparable to Darfur, with reports of killings
and burning of villages despite the army's severe access restrictions on
the media and humanitarian organisations (Al-Jazeera, 9 August 2009).
These restrictions make it impossible to establish the number or
situation of people displaced by the conflict in Somali region (The
Christian Science Monitor, 26 February 2008; Reuters, 27 February
2008; VOA, 25 February 2009). However, many analysts talk of
displacements of hundreds of thousands of people (interviews in 2009
in Addis Ababa, Geneva, and Nairobi).
According to a 2008 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, the
government's counter-insurgency campaign against the ONLF, designed
to cut off civilian support to the ONLF and concentrate its rural support
base in designated larger villages and towns, had caused widespread
forced displacement, particularly between June and August 2007. The
government had ordered civilians to relocate from small villages and
pastoralist settlements to designated towns throughout the conflict-
affected zones, typically ordering the villagers and nomads to move
within two to seven days. To secure compliance with the evacuation
orders, the army had repeatedly implemented a phased system of terror
involving the confiscation and killing of livestock, public executions, and
the destruction of villages by burning (HRW, June 2008; p.33).
Oromiya Region
Another rebel group operates in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya
and claims to be fighting for the autonomy of the Oromo people. The
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has fought the Ethiopian army since
1973. Little information is available on how this conflict has caused
displacement due to government restrictions. In August 2009, the
government summoned the Ambassador of Kenya, demanding that his
government stop a private media company in Kenya airing an
investigation on the OLF (Daily Nation, 6 August 2009).
Conflicts over disputed administrative borders
In October 2008, approximately 100,000 people were displaced as a
result of conflict in the Filtu and Hudet areas over a disputed border
between the ethnically-defined Oromiya and Somali Regions (IDMC
interview, Addis Ababa, 9 June 2009). In the majority of cases, people
sought shelter with host communities, while others scattered in the
surrounding bush.
In early 2009, ethnic clashes between Somali and Oromo ethnic groups
displaced tens of thousands of people. The conflict was triggered when
the Oromiya regional authorities started drilling a borehole on contested
land close to the dividing line between the Oromiya and Somali Regions,
which has never been properly demarcated. When the Garre Somalis
destroyed the rig, members of the Borana clan mobilised to take
revenge, angry at what they saw as years of Somali encroachment.
Some 300 people lost their lives during the conflict (BBC, 26 February
2009). Initial reports suggested 70,000 people were displaced (BBC, 13
March 2009), but regional government officials later put the figure at
over 150,000 (interview with Somali and Oromiya officials in Moyale,
17 June 2008).
In October 2008, almost 18,000 people were displaced in Alaba district
of SNNPR as a result of inter-ethnic conflict between the Arsi and the
Alaba over a disputed administrative boundary (IDMC interview, Addis
Ababa, 9 June 2009).
Physical security
HRW has reported that serious human rights violations have taken place
in areas affected by conflict and displacement, and that the government
has not investigated or brought to account the perpetrators (HRW,
January 2009). A June 2008 HRW report on Somali region was very
critical of the human rights records of both the Ethiopian government
and army and the ONLF. According to HRW, violations included
military attacks on civilians and their villages, while continuing abuses
by both rebels and Ethiopian troops were posing a direct threat to the
survival of people remaining in war-affected areas, and creating a
pervasive culture of fear (HRW, June 2008).
HRW also reported a military campaign of forced relocations and
destruction of villages in 2007 (HRW, June 2008). Villagers told HRW
how the army killed herders and other fleeing civilians, and burned
homes, property and food stocks (HRW, 3 October 2007). Reuters also
reported that the burning of villages was forcing locals to flee to the
bush where their basic needs were unmet (Reuters, 4 September 2007).
Similar allegations of the army committing human rights violations
against the civilian population in the Somali Region were also
documented by Amnesty International, the US Department of State and
Genocide Watch (AI, 28 May 2009; USDoS, 25 February 2009; Al-
Jazeera, 9 August 2009).
Satellite images have backed up reports that the Ethiopian army has
burnt towns and villages in Somali Region. The American Association
for the Advancement of Science says the images confirm the HRW
report and show the army systematically ill-treating civilians in their
counter-insurgency campaign (BBC, 12 June 2008).
Gender-based violence is also said to be widespread in Somali region,
which is reportedly openly countenanced by the army. Several
witnesses have reported that they were gang-raped to the point of
unconsciousness by soldiers (Al-Jazeera, 9 August 2009; HRW, June
2008; Reuters, 27 February 2008).
In the February 2009 conflict between the Garre-Somali and the
Oromiya-Boran, 300 lives were lost. The BBC reported that many of the
displaced had had their villages destroyed and their property stolen
(BBC, 13 March 2009).
Landmines continue to hamper the free movement of people in conflict
areas. Ethiopia is one of the most heavily-mined countries in Africa. A
Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) survey found that 1.9 million people
were at risk and identified almost 1,500 communities affected by
landmines (Afrol News, 15 April 2009).
Humanitarian access
The activities of aid workers have been severely restricted in regions
such as Somali. Humanitarian agencies have since 2008 been granted
permission to deliver food but the military escorts still hinder full access
(Daily Telegraph, 17 October 2008; BBC News, 19 September 2008;
The Times, 18 September 2008). The army has maintained control over
humanitarian aid by accompanying convoys, and determining whether it
is safe for a delivery to go ahead. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has
been denied access to Somali Region, and has called on the government
to immediately allow its teams to provide assistance to people in the
region who are facing an increasingly desperate situation (MSF, 4
September 2007). In July 2008, the Swiss arm of MSF halted its
operations in the Region, due to the obstacles put in its way. According
to the organisation's statement: "The authorities' attitude towards
humanitarian organisations has translated into recurrent arrests of MSF
Switzerland staff without charge or explanation… Despite continuous
attempts to improve the working relations with authorities, our
organisation can only regret the absence of any room to bring
independent and impartial assistance." (IRIN, 10 July 2008)
Insecurity in some parts of the country has also hindered aid delivery.
In September 2008, two aid workers working for an international
organisation were kidnapped by gunmen in Somali Region (BBC, 23
September 2008).
National and international responses
The absence of political effort to resolve internal conflicts and the
continuing border dispute with Eritrea presents an ongoing serious risk
of renewed conflict in the Horn of Africa, with potential for large-scale
displacement and severe humanitarian consequences. At a recent joint
meeting between the House of the Federation and representatives of all
nine regional governments in Benishangul-Gumuz Region, regional
governments accused the federal authorities of not doing enough to help
them contain conflicts in the regions (The Reporter, 15 August 2009).
The government's strong control of humanitarian response mechanisms
has left many of the disasters either unreported or played down.
Responses have been fragmented, inadequate, late, and have left
affected populations in an even worse situation (interview in Geneva,
November 2008). For example, government food distribution policies
have reportedly prevented assistance reaching people in need (AI,
2009); The Telegraph, 17 October 2008; BBC News, 19 September
2008; The Times, 18 September 2008, IRIN, 10 July 2008).
If the government does not improve humanitarian access, affected IDPs
and other vulnerable people will continue to face a protection and
humanitarian crisis (ICG, 17 June 2008). USAID reported in March
2008 that "literally hundreds of areas… have neither been assessed nor
received any food assistance", with "populations terrorised by the
inability to access food" (The Times, 18 September 2008). The British
Channel 4 reported that the army had withheld food from villages in
Somali Region as part of a "scorched earth" policy against the ONLF
(BBC, 19 September 2008; The Times, 18 September 2008). Before the
British Minister for International Development toured a hospital in the
town of Kebri Dehar during a visit to Somali Region in October 2008,
local officials forced starving infants out of the emergency ward and on
to the street (The Telegraph, 17 October 2008).
There is no dedicated government agency or office or a focal point that
is known to be dealing with conflict-induced displacement. In August
2008, the government disbanded the Disaster Prevention and
Preparedness Agency (DPPA) whose responsibilities were to be to
anticipate and prevent disasters and build local capacities to do so as
well and transferred its mandate to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development. Ministry officials now charged with disaster risk
management (DRM) anticipate the increased decentralisation of these
DRM responsibilities. A proposed policy has called for the
mainstreaming of disaster risk management throughout government and
greatly strengthened disaster management capacity at the highest levels
of government. Debates continue within the government regarding the
policy and it is unclear if or when it will be adopted and to what degree
this will deal with conflict-induced displacement (ODI, June 2009).
Government line ministries normally help UN agencies disburse food
and sanitation assistance (OCHA Humanitarian Bulletin, 10 August
2009). In July 2009, the UN disbursed some $6 million towards helping
the Ethiopian government help contain the rising challenges of food
insecurity, malnutrition, and ensure health care and water and sanitation
support, mostly in displacement-affected areas of Somali, Oromiya, and
SNNPR (IRIN, 27 July 2009).
In August 2009, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) recommended to the government "to ensure that
refugees and other vulnerable persons, such as internally displaced
persons, enjoy their rights under national law as well as various
international legal instruments to which it is a party…" The Committee
further requested the State Party to "provide, in its next periodic report,
detailed information on the human rights situation of refugees and
internally displaced persons on its territory…" (CERD, 31 August 2009).
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