Deteriorating Humanitarian Crisis: Millions of Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) Facing Severe Food Shortages
Record numbers of migrants from the Horn of Africa are crossing into Yemen: UN-OCHA
The following are excerpts from various reports published by UN-OCHA, its and other IDP-related agencies.
Ethiopia: More than 107,000 recorded migrants crossed the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden into Yemen in 2012, of whom 80,000 were from Ethiopia.
“Record numbers of migrants from the Horn of Africa are crossing into Yemen, most of them on their way to find better opportunities in Saudi Arabia and other rich Gulf countries. But many do not make it any further. Seeking a new life, they end up unwitting victims of a smuggling racket designed to exploit the migrants at each juncture of their journey.” UN-OCHA reported.
Pakistan: Since mid-March, about 48,000 people have been displaced from the Maidan area in the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) , due to an escalation of hostilities between rival armed groups and the Government’s security operations against armed non-state actors. UN-OCHA reported.
- Officials estimate that up to 60,000 people (10,000 families) may leave the conflict-affected area in the near future and remain in displacement for up to six months due to security concerns.
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As of 10 April, UNHCR had registered 2,364 newly displaced families. The majority were displaced to
Kurram (1,182 families), while the rest sought refuge in Peshawar (555 families), Nowshera (556 families)
and Kohat (71 families).
- Some 165,427 displaced families, that is IDPs, are currently registered in Khyber Pakhtunkh (KP) and FATA.
Afghan Refugees
- Some 1.64 million Afghan refugees currently “receiving humanitarian assistance.”
- More than 1.3 million others who have returned to FATA since 2009.
Chad: Influx of refugees and returnees
More than 74,000 people have fled into Chad from Darfur in the past two months, 50,000 of them in the past week alone, causing the largest influx of refugees from Sudan into Chad since 2005, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Hunger in Mali
Hunger in Mali has reached crisis levels in the northern Kidal Region and has reached critical levels in Gao and Timbuktu regions, according to food security agencies and the government’s early warning body, UN-OCHA reported.
- One in five households in Gao and Timbuktu are facing severe food shortages, while in Kidal one in five households faces severe malnutrition and increasing mortality.
- Countrywide, the number of Malians at risk of critical hunger this year is estimated to be 2 million, and 660,000 children under age five are at risk of severe malnutrition, though this latter estimate is based on figures from a 2011 survey.
Central African Republic (CAR)
Humanitarian situation in CAR has deteriorated, leaving civilians in the capital, Bangui, in critical need of aid, according to a senior humanitarian official.
- “The main humanitarian needs in Bangui are access to health and nutrition and clean water [and] security and protection of civilians,” Amy Martin, who heads the Bangui branch of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN.
- Regarding the number of people affected by the crisis, she said: “We are using the population figure of the entire country, 4.5 million people, [as the number of people] affected. The most vulnerable people – women, children, elderly, [people living with HIV/AIDS] – are most at risk.”
Myanmar
“Two weeks after a wave of anti-Muslim violence engulfed Meikhtila, Mandalay Division—leaving at least 40 dead and 61 injured—more than 12,000 mostly Muslim residents of the city shelter in camps for the displaced. Most of the camps are improvised in schools under the control of the Burmese government. In recent days, journalists have been barred from entering the camps. According to a local National League for Democracy politician, aid organizations have been forced to leave deliveries at the camp gates.” Irrawaddy reported.
Syria
“The humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, disrupting livelihoods, leading to over 1.3 million people fleeing the country to seek assistance as refugees in neighboring countries.” UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Malian Refugees stranded in Mauritanian desert
About 70,000 refugees from Mali are living in difficult conditions in the middle of the Mauritanian desert, with ethnic tensions in northern Mali quashing any hopes of a swift return home, Said Reliefweb.
Stateless in Mozambique
“A high number of people in our locality have no form of identification, says Veriato Eduardo, an administrator in Angonia in Northwestern Mozambique near the Malawi border. This prevents them from registering their children in schools and from expanding their small businesses. In this part of the country, a high number of adults are returned refugees, who lost their documentation during the civil war, and have therefore been left stranded.” UN Children’s Fund reported.
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DISASTER CALENDAR – April 14, 2013 —
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,063 Days Left
Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.
- SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,063 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human History
- The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …
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