04-04-19
Despite the continuous record of human rights violation and different political turbulences in the country, Ethiopia was showing an ascent on its economic development for about middle-income nations Ethiopia is a part of the “cradle of ancient civilization” and is one of the few countries to never been colonized. This has not, however, prevented the country from suffering ethnic conflict and political instability, accompanied by social crises, including large scale displacement. In recent years, Ethiopia has been suffering from internal displacement because of different reasons. Ethnic violence, conflict over resource and local boundaries, protracted drought, seasonal flooding and so on.Even under such a circumstances it continued to become the largest refugee-hosting country on the continent [2]. In the month of April 2018, a new prime minister sworn and took office with promises of bringing substantial change to the overall life of the country through “political reform”. The inaugural speech of the new prime minister ignited hope in the heart of millions of Ethiopians. The social chaos that ruined the country for the past three or four years was expected to end. However, the humanitarian crises in Ethiopia significantly deteriorated, experiencing an increase in the number of internally displaced people [3].The continued inter-communal/ethnic violence along border areas of Oromia and Somali regions and The emergence of conflict in West Guji and Gedeo, situated along the border between Oromia region and SNNPR region are the major inter-communal/ethnic violence regions that have contributed to the significant increase in the number of internally displaced people in the country.The conflict in the Gedeo and West Guji zones of the SNNP and Oromia Regions displaced more than 950,000 innocent citizens, and the ethnic conflict in the Somali region that took place in August 2018forced more than 140,000 people to leave their homes and to reside in open fields, without proper support.It is also known that the conflict along the regional Somali-Oromia borders, which intensified in September 2017, led to the displacement of around 1 million people from both regions [ 1]. In August 2018, with the violence having subsided in the Gedeo and West Guji zones of the SNNP and Oromia Regions respectively, the Government of Ethiopia has been actively insisting the displaced people to return to their homes. ‘Ethiopia’s Neglected Crisis’, by IRIN journalist Tom Gardner, 28 Feb 2019 indicates that the Ethiopian government pressurized ethnic Gedeos to return to their homes, in spite of the unsolved and legitimate concerns of the people. The Gedeos tried to comply with the order of the government. However, anothermass displacement occurred in June which was for the second time shortly after return to their domicile. In both times, the sole cause of their displacement was ethnic clash and violence, which is beyond control of the government. The New action plan drawn up in February bythe National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) aimed to resettle or return those people to their origin in 60days, as the rainy season is approaching. The government expects displaced Gedeos to return home,without a feasible plan to enable them to return to “normalcy”. Aid workers said that food assistances for the IDPs in several regions, especially near the border with the west Guji have been blocked since August 2018, in order to force their return to the Oromia region. They also say they are worried about the spread of infectious diseases. According to IRIN visit to the site, he observed that families of up to 10 individuals were living in wooden shelters well below the UN standards for camp shelter space.Many children had swollen bellies/sign of malnutrition/ as well as scabies, diarrhea and other indications of unhygienic living conditions [4].It’s only at the beginning of 2019 that humanitarian agencies were allowed to carry out formal verification process before renderingdistribution of aid. From 10 to 12 December 2018, UNHCR and partners conducted a rapid survey in 74 IDP sites in Gedeo and Guji zones to assess the views of the IDPs on the possibility of return to areas of origin and to ensure a voluntary and principled return process. The result of the survey indicated that 94% of the interviewed IDPs preferred not to return to their homes before peace and tranquility is restored in the respective regions. On top of the security threat for their lives, they raised concerns of lack of sufficient support, and the difficulty to live in burned and damaged homes [1]. The existence of such complicated crises made the IDPs feel uncomfortable to return to their homes immediately.It is said that some non-governmental partners are closely lobbying the Government agencies to allocate budget and to restore peace and securityto make the returnees safe,and to afford them additional time, instead of pushing them to return, focusing only on addressing the political aspect of the crises. They are insisting that the government should design and implement a lasting peace and security plan to make sure that such crises will not happen again. Similar displacements are also taking place in the northern part of the country. European Commission's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
