Across many parts of Africa, conflict, political violence, climate change and food insecurity are converging to forcibly displace more Africans than ever before.
A recent report by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) found that the number of forcibly displaced people, including those displaced within their own countries, asylum seekers and refugees, surpassed 100 million globally in May 2022.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) 2023 planning figures, 44 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are displaced, up from 38.3 million at the end of 2021.
In East Africa, around the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes regions, 19.2 million people had fled their homes by the end of 2021 due to violence, climate-related droughts and flooding.
The region is also suffering its worst drought in over 4 decades after five consecutive failed rainy seasons and faces a sixth in 2023. As of November 2022, drought had displaced 1.8 million people.
The report found that, in Southern Africa, 10.1 million people are displaced due to climate-linked disasters, drought, economic pressures and insecurity.
In West and Central Africa, violent extremism, political instability, inter-communal clashes over scarce resources and climate change have displaced 12.7 million people.
In October 2022, UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi sounded the alarm stating “I regret to inform you that, for the first time during my tenure, I am worried about UNHCR’s financial situation.”
Source : IOL
