Perilous
Times
UN: 5.3 million East Africans uprooted by war and disasters;
8.8 million face drought
By Peter James Spielmann, The Associated Press
More than 5.3 million East Africans in 10 countries have been
uprooted by internal conflicts and natural disasters, the United
Nations said Friday.
Some 1.4 million refugees have been forced to cross national
borders while 4 million others are displaced within their home
countries.
Droughts have also stricken about 8.8 million East Africans,
sowing hunger and homelessness, the U.N.'s Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
OCHA's figures covered the month of March. It said the totals on
east Africa showed an 8 per cent increase in refugees over the
previous six months, but a 3 per cent decrease in "internally
displaced persons" who have not crossed a national border.
Ethiopia was most affected, with 3.2 million people now in need of
humanitarian aid. In Somalia more than 50,000 people were
displaced by a combination of armed conflict and natural disasters
during March, OCHA said.
The countries monitored were Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, and Congo.
Worrisome trends included an increase of more than 50,000 refugees
in Kenya and 19,000 fleeing warfare in Somalia, and drought there
from the 2010 La Nina weather pattern.
Increased attacks on civilians in eastern Congo by the Lord's
Resistance Army, and clashes in Somalia between the Islamist
insurgent group al-Shabab and African Union peacekeepers and the
nominal government in Mogadishu partly drove the increase in
refugees, OCHA said.