Africanews September -CLIPPINGS

[Africanews <ramalkandy@iol.it>]

AFRICANEWS - News and Views on Africa from Africa
Issue 54 - September 2000
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+


CLIPPINGS



Africa

At least 1.5 million people in Africa fled their homes during the
first eight months of this year because of war, violence, or political
repression, the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) announced today.

The USCR estimate of 1.5 million newly uprooted Africans is very
conservative and might well undercount hundreds of thousands of newly
uprooted people at locations in Africa where inadequate reporting
makes estimates difficult.

Africa's newly uprooted population is equivalent to nearly 50,000 new
refugees and internally displaced people per week. At least 10 African
countries suffered significant population flight during January to
August of 2000. The newly uprooted people join millions of other
Africans who remain refugees or internally displaced from previous
years; a cumulative total of some 14.2 million Africans are currently
uprooted and unable to return home.



Eritrea

* Newly uprooted = 500,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 650,000]
* Cause = border war with Ethiopia.
* Minimum estimate includes populations uprooted during
   military offensive by Ethiopian troops in May-June.
* Minimum estimate does not include several thousand Eritreans
   who fled in August from areas occupied by Ethiopian troops; does not
   include larger displacement estimates by Eritrean authorities.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous
   years = 1 million. [Higher estimates = 1.25 million]


Congo-Kinshasa (DRC)

* Newly uprooted = 430,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 540,000]
* Cause = civil war; war with neighboring countries.
* Minimum estimate includes UN assessment that more than
   400,000 Congolese became internally displaced in first half of year;
   30,000 new Congolese refugees to Tanzania, Zambia, and
   Congo-Brazzaville.
* Minimum estimate does not include higher UN estimate of
   possible 100,000 additional newly displaced Congolese; does not
   include reports of an additional 20,000 new Congolese refugees in
   Congo-Brazzaville.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous years = 1.4 million.
   [Higher estimates = 1.7 million]


Angola

* Newly uprooted = 200,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 250,000]
* Cause = civil war; current violence in eight of country's 15
   provinces.
* Minimum estimate includes approximately 200,000 new internally
   displaced persons; 10,000 to 15,000 new Angolan refugees in Zambia.
* Minimum estimate does not include sizable but uncounted August
   population movements into central cities of Kuito and Uige; does not
   include reports of uncounted numbers recently uprooted in contested
   border areas.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous years = 1.8 million to
   2.5 million.


Sierra Leone

* Newly uprooted = 160,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 270,000]
* Cause = renewed civil war.
* Minimum estimate includes at least 100,000 newly uprooted persons
   registered by aid agencies nationwide; at least 50,000 newly
   displaced living on their own nationwide; 7,000 newly displaced in
   northern town of Bubuna in August; at least 6,000 new Sierra Leonean
   refugees to Guinea.
* Minimum estimate does not include additional 50,000 newly uprooted
   people reported but not confirmed by aid agencies; does not include
   reports of several thousand additional new uncounted refugees in
   Guinea; does not include highest estimates for newly displaced
   population congregated at Mile 91 in central Sierra Leone or Port
   Loko in the north.
* Total uprooted, including from previous years = 750,000. [Higher
   estimates = 1 million]


Sudan

* Newly uprooted = 60,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 150,000]
* Cause = civil war; government policies.
* Minimum estimate includes nearly 50,000 new internally displaced
   persons in southern Bentiu oil-producing area in August; 10,000 new
   Sudanese refugees in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia.
* Minimum estimate does not include unconfirmed reports of tens of
   thousands of newly displaced persons in inaccessible areas of
   Western Upper Nile Province; does not include possible new
   population displacement in central Sudan's Nuba Mountain area; does
   not include unconfirmed reports of recent population flight from
   government-controlled southern town of Wau; does not include
   uncounted numbers of newly uprooted people near northeastern town of
   Kassala; does not include reports of newly uprooted people in
   western Darfur Province.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous years = 4.4 million.


Burundi

* Newly uprooted = 60,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 100,000+]
* Cause = civil war.
* Minimum estimate includes nearly 40,000 new Burundian refugees to
   Tanzania; 30,000 new internally displaced in southern Makamba
   Province.
* Minimum estimate does not include new internal displacement in
   eastern provinces where violence is ongoing; does not include newest
   displacement caused by violence and government policies near
   Bujumbura, the capital.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous years = 1 million.


Uganda

* Newly uprooted = 50,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 200,000]
* Cause = armed insurgencies in north and southwest.
* Minimum estimate includes new displacement of 50,000 people in
   northern districts of Kitgum and Gulu.
* Minimum estimate does not include higher government estimates for
   displacement in Gulu and Kitgum; does not include possible new
   population displacement caused by insurgent attacks early in year
   near southern town of Bundibugyo; does not include population
   displacement caused by recent insurgent attacks in central Uganda;
   does not include uncounted displacement triggered by ethnic violence
   in northern Karamoja area.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous years = 510,000. [Higher
   estimates = 840,000]


Nigeria

* Newly uprooted = 50,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 80,000]
* Cause = religious and political violence.
* Minimum estimate includes Nigerians uprooted in northern central
   city of Kaduna and nearby areas by violence that reportedly killed
   600.
* Minimum estimate does not include higher unconfirmed estimates of
   population displacement in northern Nigeria; does not include
   possible new displacement caused by political tensions in southern
   oil regions.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous years = 50,000 to
   100,000.


Liberia

* Newly uprooted = 30,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 40,000]
* Cause = civil strife; alleged armed insurgency.
* Minimum estimate includes reports of 30,000 or more internally
   displaced persons since July in Lofa County.
* Minimum estimate does not include higher government estimates for
   population displacement in Lofa County.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous years = 230,000. [Higher
   estimates = 270,000]


Somalia

* Newly uprooted = 5,000 minimum. [Higher estimates = 25,000]
* Cause = civil strife.
* Minimum estimate includes new internally displaced persons in south
   central Somalia in March.
* Minimum estimate does not include likely displacement caused by
   violence in key town of Belet Wein in August, fighting south of
   Mogadishu in July, violence in Baidoa in June, and violence north of
   Mogadishu in Jowhar.
* Total now uprooted, including from previous years = 780,000. [Higher
   estimates = 850,000]


Africa Total

* Total newly uprooted = 1.54 million minimum. [Higher estimates = 2.3
   million.]
* Total now uprooted in Africa, including from previous years = 14.2
   million (includes uprooted populations from African countries not
   listed above).