U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1999 - Ethiopia

Approximately 40,000 Ethiopians remained refugees in neighboring countries at the end of 1998, including some 30,000 in Sudan, about 5,000 in Kenya, some 2,000 in Djibouti, and 3,000 in Yemen.

An estimated 150,000 Ethiopians were internally displaced at year's end.

Ethiopia hosted some 250,000 refugees at year's end: an estimated 180,000 from Somalia, and about 60,000 from Sudan, 8,000 from Kenya, and 3,000 from Djibouti.

About 45,000 residents of Ethiopia were expelled from the country during the year, and some 35,000 of them lived in refugee-like circumstances in neighboring Eritrea after the expulsion.

About 10,000 Ethiopian refugees who had fled in previous years repatriated during 1998.

War With Eritrea

Warfare erupted between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May when Eritrean troops seized a small strip of disputed land along the countries' common border previously controlled by Ethiopia.

Violence escalated in June when both sides launched air strikes. An Eritrean airplane bombed the northern Ethiopian town of Mekele, killing 48 people, many of them school children. The violence quickly spread to three military fronts along the nearly 1,000-km. (600-mile) border.

Violence diminished during a four-month rainy season, but artillery exchanges increased later in the year, and the military situation along the border remained tense at year's end. Efforts by the United States, the Organization of African Unity, and other diplomats to mediate the dispute failed.

Several hundred persons died on both sides – some analysts estimated a death toll of several thousand.

Deportations from Ethiopia

Because of the war, the Ethiopian government systematically deported some 45,000 residents to Eritrea during the second half of the year.

Ethiopian officials claimed that the deportees were Eritrean citizens who posed a potential security threat to Ethiopia. About 80 percent of the deportees, however, claimed that they were Ethiopian citizens of Eritrean heritage, and that their families had lived in Ethiopia for decades. The 35,000 deportees claiming Ethiopian citizenship were not officially recognized as refugees in Eritrea, but they lived a refugee like existence. An estimated half-million ethnic Eritreans reside in Ethiopia.

Some 20,000 Ethiopian residents of Eritrea, meanwhile, returned to Ethiopia because of the war. Ethiopian officials claimed that the Eritrean government expelled many of the returnees. But Eritrean officials and many European diplomats based in Eritrea insisted that the majority of the Ethiopians left Eritrea voluntarily, and that Eritrea had not engaged in wholesale forcible deportations.

The deportations of 45,000 people by the Ethiopian government drew international criticism. The UN Security Council urged "both Eritrea and Ethiopia to stop the deportation of each other's nationals." The U.S. government expressed "deep concern." The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the deportations as a "violation of human rights."

Ethiopian authorities raided homes, businesses, and markets to apprehend individuals targeted for deportation. In many cases, families became separated when husbands and wives were deported at different times, or parents were often expelled without their children. Many were placed in detention before they were transported to the border on buses and trucks.

Many of those expelled from Ethiopia left behind thriving businesses and considerable personal property, leading to accusations that many of the deportations occurred for economic rather than security reasons.

The deportations continued at an average of 1,000 per week as the year ended.

Internally Displaced Ethiopians

The war against Eritrea pushed 150,000 or more people from their homes in Ethiopia's border regions. Ethiopian officials claimed that as many as 330,000 people were uprooted.

Most displaced people received lodging from relatives and families living farther from the border zone, creating "a heavy burden on the meager resources of the hosting communities," a UN report warned in September. UN agencies appealed to international donors for $4 million to provide assistance to the newly displaced population and the impoverished families trying to accommodate them.

The Ethiopian government urged donors to provide 27,000 tons of humanitarian aid equipment. International relief agencies had virtually no regular access to the affected area because of military tensions along the border during the second half of the year.

In southern Ethiopia, local ethnic clashes during August and September temporarily uprooted 150,000 people and damaged more than 20 villages, according to reports. Virtually all families returned to their homes before the year ended.

Repatriation of Ethiopian Refugees

Ethiopians who fled their country's civil war and other conflicts during the 1980s and early 1990s have gradually repatriated since 1991. An estimated 800,000 Ethiopians have returned to their home areas during this decade, including some 10,000 in 1998.

About 8,000 refugees repatriated with UNHCR assistance from Sudan, where some of them had lived in exile for 20 years. UNHCR ended its official repatriation program from Sudan in June.

Each family returning from Sudan received a ninemonth food ration, blankets, and household utensils upon arrival in Ethiopia. Each individual returnee also received the equivalent of nearly $100 for transportation to their home villages and other resettlement needs.

It is expected that some of the 30,000 Ethiopian refugees remaining in Sudan will eventually repatriate on their own.

About 3,000 Ethiopian refugees repatriated from Kenya during the year, primarily on special flights arranged by UNHCR. UNHCR expected to continue its repatriation program from Kenya to Ethiopia in 1999.

Refugees from Somalia

About two-thirds of the Somali refugee population in Ethiopia arrived during 1988-91 at the height of Somalia's civil war. Most others arrived during 1994-95, as violence continued to erupt in Somalia. Nearly 90 percent of all Somali refugees in Ethiopia originated from northern Somalia, known as Somaliland.

Estimates of the actual number of refugees in Ethiopia have varied considerably over the years because of difficulties in conducting an accurate census, and poor controls on the use of food cards. An estimated 180,000 remained in Ethiopia, including about 160,000 at eight longestablished camps in northeastern Ethiopia. Another 10,000 to 20,000 lived in urban areas. Approximately 5,000 lived in the remote southeast corner of the country.

Some 50,000 Somali refugees repatriated from Ethiopia during 1998. UNHCR began the year expecting that 70,000 Somali refugees would repatriate from Ethiopia. The 50,000 who ultimately repatriated received nine-month food rations and transportation grants equivalent to $20 before departing Ethiopia. Convoys of buses and trucks transported the returnees to Somalia.

UNHCR sponsored short visits to Somalia by refugee elders so that they could ascertain first-hand the conditions for repatriation. Poor economic conditions in northern Somalia and the prevalence of landmines in some returnee areas continued to deter many refugees from going home.

UNHCR and international donors have gradually curtailed aid to the Somali refugee population remaining in Ethiopia to encourage their repatriation and to resolve problems of alleged diversion of aid supplies. Many of Ethiopia's refugee camps were located in harsh, barren terrain where water supplies were unreliable and trees for firewood were scarce. Some refugee women and girls regularly foraged for firewood up to 40 km (25 miles) from their camps.

The Ethiopian government's Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) took steps to revise food distribution procedures at several camps in 1998 to reduce petty theft and duplication. ARRA began to distribute food directly to households rather than to camp elders.

Although security has improved in recent years for aid workers traveling to refugee sites in northeast Ethiopia, dangers remained in 1998. Local bandits killed more than 20 truck drivers, local officials, and others in the vicinity of the camps during the year. WFP truck convoys carrying food to the refugee camps no longer traveled with military convoys as in past years, but WFP began to equip its vehicles with bullet-proof panels and landmine resistant shields.

Refugees from Sudan

Civil war in Sudan has pushed waves of refugees into Ethiopia since the 1980s, reaching more than 300,000 in 1991. Although most eventually returned home, continued warfare in Sudan has produced new refugee flows into Ethiopia since 1993.

The 60,000 Sudanese refugees in western Ethiopia during 1998 resided at four camps divided along ethnic lines. The largest camp, Fugnido, contained about 20,000 refugees, primarily ethnic Nuer. A second camp, Dimma, also contained primarily Nuer. About 10,000 ethnic Uduk refugees resided primarily in Bonga camp. A mixture of ethnicities lived in the newest camp, Sherkole, established in 1997.

Residents of the four camps were overwhelmingly women and children, UNHCR reported. About 90 percent of the refugees in Bonga were women and children, as were nearly 80 percent in Fugnido and 70 percent in Dimma and Sherkole.

Health conditions at the camps were mixed. Up to 20 percent of the population at one camp, Bonga, were malnourished. UNHCR blamed the malnutrition on erratic food shipments, poor food distributions procedures, and "extremely poor" farming opportunities. UNHCR officials noted that because Ethiopian authorities refused to designate land where refugees could farm, the refugee population could not plant on the fertile agricultural land around the camps.

Unsafe drinking water continued to plague the Sudanese population. Wells were too shallow, improperly protected from contamination, and contained salty water, UNHCR reported. An outbreak of illness related to poor drinking water killed 49 refugees, mostly children.

Funding constraints during the year prevented UNHCR from providing school buildings and equipment for 18,000 Sudanese refugee children. Budget restrictions also delayed construction of a much-needed health center at one camp, UNHCR reported.

Ethiopian authorities rounded up some 1,500 Sudanese living in Addis Ababa, the capital, in early 1998 and transported them to Sherkole camp in western Ethiopia for screening. UNHCR voiced its concern about the roundup and reported that the sweep improperly detained 400 recognized refugees.

Refugees from Djibouti, Kenya

An insurgency in Djibouti pushed an estimated 15,000 refugees into northern Ethiopia in the early 1990s. Most reportedly returned to Djibouti several years ago.

In 1998, as in previous years, UNHCR could not verify the number of Djiboutian refugees remaining in Ethiopia. "Their exact number has always been difficult to establish," UNHCR reported. Most of the refugees were nomadic ethnic Afars who were indistinguishable from Ethiopian Afars. WFP provided food aid intended for the estimated 3,000 Djiboutian refugees who remained. WFP planned to cease food aid late in the year.

An estimated 8,000 Kenyan refugees, who sought asylum in Ethiopia in 1993 to escape ethnic conflict, remained in southern Ethiopia. Most were ethnic Ajuran and ethnic Degodian. They lived in two camps. WFP provided food, and UNHCR provided limited water and health assistance.

Efforts to encourage the Kenyan refugees to repatriate failed. WFP cut off food distributions to some of the refugees for two months because they refused to cooperate with repatriation planning.

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