Africa home to half of world's internally displaced people

Although the number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Africa has dropped over the past year, the continent nevertheless harbors almost half of the world's IDP population. Of the 26 million IDPs worldwide, 12 million live in Africa.

IDPs are refugees in their own country; people who are forced to flee their homes and communities to other regions in their home country, for instance due to political oppression, civil strife, and internal violence. The main difference between refugees and IDPs is that the former have been deprived of the protection of their state of origin, while IDPs remain under the protection of national authorities of their country of residence. This does not make IDPs less vulnerable. Because of fear of prosecution, many IDPs live their lives in hiding - which makes it difficult for aid agencies to reach them a helping hand. In addition, there is no single international agency, nor an international treaty, that focuses on internal displacement, as opposed to refugees. As a result, many IDPs receive no humanitarian aid or protection at all. Sudan: IDP hotspot Although the civil war in the southern Sudan has come to an end, the country still harbors the largest IDP population in the world. About 4.9 million people - 12 percent of the country's population and 20 percent of the world's total IDPs - are displaced Organisations like the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre predicts that the fighting in the west of Darfur and unrest in the east will refrain people from going home. The UN estimates that in 2009, a quarter of a million people in southern Sudan have been displaced by inter-tribal violence. According to the United Nations, Sudan's southern region of Darfur boasts the largest IDP camp in the world: the Gereida Camp, which is home to 130.00 people, who fully depend on food aid and assitance from international organisations. 800.000 Congolese IDPs After Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is second on the list. During the first half of 2009, fighting between militia and Congolese armed forces, between Congolese forces and Rwandan troops, as well as direct attacks and violence for instance by the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), have forced 800.000 people to flee their communities. In total, the country harbors two million IDPs. Other African countries with high numbers of IDPS are Uganda (1.8 million), Kenya (400.000), Central African republic (108.000), Chad (166.000) and Ethiopia, where in the first half of 2009 160.000 people were displaced due to conflict between the Garre of the Somali region and the Boran of the Oromiya region over a contested piece of land. In total, the number of IDPs in Ethiopia is estimated between 200.000 and 400.000.