Internally displaced situation worsens

Sudan reportedly has the largest number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world, with estimates of about 4 million. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said in a report made available to IRIN that the 30-year old conflict in Sudan had gone through several phases and had created a complex IDP situation with different causes of displacement in different regions of the country. "People have become displaced both by the armed conflict and by natural disasters, including temporary displacement caused by flooding... Traditional nomadic migration patterns and large groups of the general population on the move in search of emergency assistance complicate assessments of the IDP situation," said the report. The IDP situation has worsened since 1998 when a major humanitarian disaster was coupled with fighting in and around the main city of Wau, in Bahr al-Ghazal. The report also mentions the documentation of "gross human rights violations" in areas in which foreign oil companies have exploration rights. Updated information released by the Global IDP Database of the NRC said UN estimates for government-controlled areas suggested there were some 1.8 million IDPs in Khartoum State, 500,000 in the east and the transition zone, and 300,000 in the southern states. According to the report, "systematic data for IDPs in opposition-held southern areas is not available". But USAID figures from a survey in 1994 confirm the presence of 1.5 million IDPs in the southern sectors, said the report. The main causes of displacement listed in the report include armed factions, tribal militias, opposition divisions, exposure to military activity, and attacks on civilian settlements. See www.idpproject.org for the report profile.