Ethiopia hosted some 112,000 refugees at the end of 2003, including nearly 95,000 from Sudan, about 10,000 from Somalia, and nearly 7,000 from Eritrea.

About 19,000 Ethiopians were refugees or asylum seekers at the end of 2003, including nearly 10,000 in Kenya, more than 2,000 in Yemen, some 1,000 in Sudan, more than 1,000 in Djibouti, and an estimated 5,000 Ethiopian asylum applicants in Europe and the United States. Some 12,000 Ethiopians lived in refugee-like circumstances in Sudan.

An estimated 90,000 Ethiopians were internally displaced at year's end.

Uprooted Ethiopians

About 90,000 Ethiopians remained internally displaced at year's end, including about 75,000 uprooted by Ethiopia's 1998 – 2000 border war with Eritrea.

The majority of the remaining Ethiopians internally displaced by the border war lived in northern Ethiopia's Tigray and Afar regions at the end of 2003. Although security in Tigray and Afar improved considerably during the year, most displaced people could not return home because pervasive landmines severely limited access to farm and pasture land. Damaged health clinics and water systems also presented risks to many war-displaced Ethiopians wanting to return home, particularly children.

The war-displaced population, including demobilized soldiers and Ethiopian nationals deported from Eritrea, received limited water, shelter, and health and education services from international agencies. They struggled to survive on monthly food rations provided by the World Food Programme (WFP).

Refugees from Sudan

Civil war in Sudan had pushed waves of refugees into Ethiopia since the 1980s. The Sudanese refugee population in Ethiopia peaked at more than 300,000 in 1991. Although the population subsequently declined, new refugee influxes have continued.

About 5,000 new Sudanese refugees fled to western Ethiopia during 2003, bringing the number of Sudanese in Ethiopia at year's end to more than 95,000. The refugees lived in four long-established camps and a recently created camp, Yarenja, in western Ethiopia. The largest site, Fugnido, housed nearly 32,000 primarily ethnic Nuer. Nearly 19,000 additional ethnic Nuer refugees lived in Dimma camp. Some 18,000 ethnic Uduk refugees lived in Bonga camp, while about 18,000 ethnically mixed refugees resided at Sherkole camp. More than 4,000 Sudanese refugees who fled the Blue Nile and Upper Nile regions of southern Sudan during 2001 remained in Yarenja camp at the end of 2003.

Increased ethnic tensions erupted into violence for the second consecutive year in and around camps hosting Sudanese refugees. In mid-December, eight people, including three officials of the Ethiopian government's Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA), were murdered when their vehicle was ambushed in western Ethiopia's Gambella region. Local opposition to the construction of a new camp in Odier-Bol, 45 miles (75 km) from the town of Gambella, the regional capital, allegedly prompted the attack. An estimated 50 to 70 primarily Ethiopian civilians and some 10 Sudanese refugees died in waves of reprisal attacks, which forced several thousand ethic Anuak Sudanese refugees and ethnic Anuak Ethiopians, who were blamed for the murders, into Sudan. UNHCR had evacuated their international staff from the region by year's end. Violence in western Ethiopia has killed at least 100 Sudanese refugees during the past two years.

Although many had supported themselves as farmers in Sudan, as in previous years, Ethiopian authorities refused to make more agricultural land available to the refugee population during 2003, limiting their opportunities support themselves. UNHCR and ARRA, however, did provide seeds and farming tools to selected Sudanese families.

Refugees from Somalia

Somali refugees fled to Ethiopia during the early- and mid-1990s to escape civil war. Nearly 90 percent originated from northwest Somalia, known as Somaliland.

An estimated 10,000 or fewer refugees remained in three long-established camps in eastern Ethiopia – Aisha, Hartisheik, and Kebribeyah – at the end of 2003. UNHCR officially reported that nearly 30,000 Somali refugees remained in the camps, but that number was greatly inflated by massive fraud in eastern Ethiopia's refugee program. UNHCR provided health and education services to camp residents and WFP provided monthly food rations.

An estimated 10,000 Somalis repatriated from Ethiopia during 2003, primarily to Somaliland. Refugees preparing to return home received plastic sheeting, blankets, water containers, kitchen utensils, and used clothing before their departure. They also received a reintegration grant equivalent from UNHCR and a nine-month food supply from WFP. Unknown thousands of additional Somali refugees continued to live outside established camps in urban and rural areas of Ethiopia.

Refugees from Eritrea

Nearly 7,000 Eritrean refugees remained in Ethiopia at year's end. Most were ethnic Kunama who fled to Ethiopia in May 2000 because of warfare and discrimination in Eritrea. Nearly 2,000 new Eritrean refugees arrived in Ethiopia during 2003.

Nearly all Eritrean refugees resided in Wa'ala Nhibi, a remote temporary site near the town of Shiraro, in northern Tigray Region. UNHCR maintained limited water, sanitation, and health care facilities there. As in previous years, UNHCR and donor nations frequently voiced concern over the site's proximity to Ethiopia's border with Eritrea and the prevalence of landmines. In November, Ethiopian authorities identified a new site, Shimebla, some 40 miles (60 km) from the Ethiopia-Eritrea border, to construct a safer camp to house the Eritrean population. Construction had not begun by year's end.

Disclaimer:

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.