East Africa

Displacement Numbers Drop in East & Horn of Africa But Climate Concerns Persist

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IDP Numbers Drop in East and Horn of Africa in 2019 But Climate Concerns Persist

In its new report, Region on the Move, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says the drastic drop in regional internally displaced persons (IDPs) is due to 1.3 million Ethiopians returning home who had previously fled communal violence. In mid 2019, the region was home to 8.1 million IDPs and 3.5 million refugees and asylum-seekers but by year’s end, 3.5 million refugees and asylum seekers remained and 6.3 million displaced, accounting for a 22% drop. Despite this, IOM found 2019 displacements persisted largely due to climate and environmental hazards such as the prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa, which impacted food security in parts of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Djibouti. Concerns persist about new displacements in Somalia and South Sudan, as well as climate displacements. Last year, flooding and heavy rains devastated the region and the rains created the right conditions for desert locusts whose breeding is currently impacting East African crops again in Ethiopia and Somalia, but spreading to Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and South Sudan. (Reliefweb)

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East Africa Flood Displacement - Ugandan Hospital, Somali Town Washed Away Amid Virus Battle

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David Anderson/UNSPLASH

David Anderson/UNSPLASH

Ugandan Hospital, Somali Town Washed Away by East Africa Floods

Hundreds have died and thousands are displaced across Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Another hospital in western Uganda was flooded, hospital wards, drug dispensaries and  mortuaries have been impacted, further complicating planning and response to COVID-19, and increasing contagion risks with mass displacements that don’t allow for social distancing. Ethiopia’s Somali region has more than 100,000 people displaced, while casualties are unknown in the Somali town in Puntland, which washed away the entire town. Climate experts in Kenya say the heavy rains are due to the increased temperatures in the Indian Ocean and are a spillover of effects seen last year, when heavy rains and landslides impacted the region. Kenya has lost nearly 200 people and 100,000 are displaced, now living in camps, where authorities fear coronavirus spread could increase as a result. (Reuters)

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In Today's News: Refugees Face Threat of Coronavirus; Conflict, Climate, Contagion; As Himalayas Warm, Nepal's Climate Migrants Suffer; East Africa's Locusts are Back, Stronger Than Ever

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Refugees Worldwide Now Face Threat of Coronavirus

About 10 million of the world’s 70 million refugees live in crowded camps and informal settlements. Almost no refugees living in these camps have been tested for the virus, and testing, in short supply in New York, is non-existent in the global south, where ventilators, gloves and masks are scant. A review by Norwegian Refugee Council of 30 countries found virtually no testing before people became sick - many in cramped and abysmal quarters making social distancing and frequent hand-washing near impossible. Refugees have tested positive in Italy, Germany, Iran, Australia and Greece, where 150 people living in a quarantined hotel for asylum-seekers had contracted the virus. In Syria’s war-ravaged Idlib province, where 200 tests have been carried out but no cases yet exist, only one small health facility is ready to treat, but elsewhere, where cases have appeared, 350 health facilities have been bombed, over 900 medical staff have been killed and countless more have fled. In Cox’s Bazaar, the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, aid workers are racing to build isolation facilities, while in Kenya’s two largest refugee camps, Kakuma and Dadaab, where refugees have lived for decades in exile, there are no tests, no intensive care units and no ventilators, and fears are that the worst is yet to come. (LA Times)

Conflict, Climate and Contagion: Refugees Suffer

As countries shut their borders and refugee resettlement operations grind to a halt, refugees in camps and urban settlements grow ever more vulnerable to the Coronavirus, where social distancing seems largely a privilege. Cox’s Bazaar - the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh - has twice the density of New York City, the current pandemic epicenter. Overcrowded settlements exemplify conflict, climate and contagion’s interconnectedness - all leading reasons for flight. The response to Covid-19 has highlighted the challenges of response in the face of limited resources - prompting questions of whether to treat the elderly over the young or the current workforce? These same ethical questions easily translate to groups defined by immigration status and borders as well, and while the virus has everything to do with mobility, it is migration that has been demonized. And all the while, it is migrants all over the world who have made significant contributions as frontline and essential workers in the medical fields, food and health services that keep the pandemic response moving along. (Newsroom) 

As Himalayas Warm, Nepal’s Climate Migrants Struggle to Survive

High in the Himalayas in a village called Dhye, an exodus of migrants has begun, forced by  dwindling crops, the closed school, and essentially, life made impossible by climate change. Millions of South Asians are at risk as glacial melt has accelerated and with it, made land barren and remapped the Himalayan region, forcing mountain dwellers to build life anew at lower altitudes. One of the most comprehensive studies on mountain warming last year revealed that even if the most ambitious climate change targets were met, at least one-third of the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2100, and warnings are that rising temperatures could spread malaria and dengue to new areas of the region, where mosquitoes have already started to appear in the highlands. Nepal is considered ground zero for the impacts of climate change and while the number of impacted migrants are unknown, local officials estimate it to be in the thousands with officials planning to track the impacts of rising temperatures for the first time in an upcoming census. The climate change migrants who have already left face numerous challenges in resettlement, where new residents have no legal right to land. (NY Times) 

Two New Generations of Locusts are Set to Descend on East Africa Again - 400 Times Stronger

Already farmers and herders across Kenya are reporting the large swathes in an infestation which first arrived last June and wreaked havoc across eight countries. Scientists say they never left and will only increase this year due to higher than average rainfall. East Africa, already a food insecure region for 20 million people, now faces additional challenges made worse by conflict, climate shocks and the expected rise in Covid-19 cases, and experts fear that up to 100% of farmers’ budding crops could be destroyed. Efforts to mitigate losses are underway but Covid-19 poses new challenges with country lockdowns and supply chain disruptions in pesticide shipments. Already, Somalia is three weeks behind in locust control pesticides due to Covid-19. If control activities fail, up to an additional 5 million could be food insecure in East Africa by June. (Quartz Africa)