The Inter-Governmental Agency for Development known by its acronym as IGAD is currently facing a huge problem in connection with the refugee issue. It is common knowledge that most of IGAD member states are rocked by the influx of refugees from the region. Ethiopia is the country that is mostly bearing the brunt of the refugee problem in the Horn of Africa. It is hosting thousands of refugees from Eritrea, South Sudan and Somalia among others.
It is also facing its own refugee problem due to continued migrations and internal displacements caused by ethnic conflicts in some parts of the country. All in all, the Horn of Africa is perhaps the region most affected by a huge refugee problem. The challenges are so overwhelming that IGAD member states are currently making redoubled efforts to deal with it as CGTN, the Chinese Global Television Network recently reported.
The refugee problem in the Horn of Africa has evolved in many directions although the dominant tendency was to accommodate refugees in their host countries until peace returned in their home countries in order to repatriate them. Past practices in addressing the refugee problem in the Horn focused on temporary accommodations of refugees in their host countries while failing to address the root causes or seeking durable solutions that could address the issue in a radical and more pragmatic or creative way. It has now become not only a regional challenge but also a global one.
The recent IGAD conference in Addis Ababa that took place last September 16-18 has in fact signaled a change of direction in addressing the problem or in seeking durable solutions. According to the CGTN report, “Member states of IGAD have agreed to maintain political momentum in the search for durable solutions for refugees, returnees and host countries.”
The Addis Ababa meeting was convened to deliberate on the progress made since the 2017 historic summit that led to the issuance of the Nairobi Declaration and Plan of Action that outlined a comprehensive regional approach for dealing with the refugee crisis in the Horn. Even before that, the 2016 New York Declaration on the rights of refugees was a milestone in the search for a global solidarity and refugee protection.
The recent summit in Ethiopia can therefore be seen as an outgrowth of previous such summits that attempted to locate the refugee crisis in the global context simply because isolated efforts or old ways of doing things have not produced the desired outcomes. A new and comprehensive approach was required to address the issue that has recently become a real menace to the security and development of the region.
In the past, IGAD member countries dealt with the refugee problem on a case by case basis or in an uncoordinated way for lack of a unifying policy that could have helped them join forces to tackle the issue at regional level. As the refugee problem has now become a key challenge to the region’s vision of peace, stability and development IGAD member countries are synchronizing their approach with the changing dynamics of the problem. It has also become evident that Horn countries cannot address the problem without global solidarity or cooperation because the demands for logistics, finance, and expertise are beyond the capacity of any individual country in the region.
When we look at the dynamics of the refugee’s problem in Africa, we realize that there are two kinds of push and pull factors behind it. The refugee’s problem in Africa is basically caused by internal or external actors. If we take for instance the massive population displacements that took place in the wake of the recent ethnic conflicts in different parts of Ethiopia, we can say that they were caused by internal non-state actors such as leaders of rival ethnic groups and political activists that often mislead the populations by raising unrealistic political expectations.
On the other hand, the cross-border refugee problems in Africa are caused by both state and non-state actors such as groups involved in civil wars and inter-state conflicts that force huge populations to cross borders and settle on the other side. While populations displaced by internal conflicts may be temporary or permanent refugees in their own countries, those forced to leave their homes and move to neighboring or distant countries are generally considered permanent refugees.
Among the pull factors that lead people to leave their countries and seek refugee status in distant lands is economic opportunities that is lacking in their home countries while they may be available in distant lands. Security concerns are also some of the factors that aggravate the problem. Refugees who brave so many dangers and travel across many seas on board rickety boats that often sink in the high seas, are the kind of refugees who are pulled by real or imaginary opportunities in other countries.
All these three types of refugees are found in the Horn of Africa where conflicts and massive human displacements are part of the general political picture. Eritrea, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia are the epicenters of the refugee problems that are showing no sign of improvements despite the prevalence of peace in some of the previously war-torn countries.
According to a report by a UN official, “The number of refugees in the Horn of Africa is increasing currently with over four million in the region and another eight million Internally Displaced People (IDPs) over several camps, mainly in Ethiopia and Uganda.” According to the same UN official, Clementine Nkweta Salami who spoke at the 2nd Ministerial Stocktaking Meeting which was held last Wednesday in Addis Ababa, “The IGAD region is host to four million refugees, 80 percent of whom are children. Refugee hosting areas are pressured by the influx of communities and strained by dwindling resources.”
Ethiopia is a key strategic country in the region’s socio-economic development, peace and stability. Ethiopia is also a key country in addressing the refugee’s problem because it is hosting one the largest if not the largest refugee population in the region. It has therefore the responsibility to be on the forefront of the search for durable solutions to the problem. Its past practices or experiences in hosting tens of thousands of refugees from neighboring countries have earned it the respect and admiration it deserves. The experiences thus gathered in the past are critical in the search for lasting long-term solutions to the challenge.
According to Zeinu Jemal, State Minister of Peace, the last few years have turned Ethiopia into one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world. He made this statement at last week’s meeting in Addis Ababa. It was also disclosed that “the government of Ethiopia is currently providing protection to close to one million refugees from 26 countries, mostly youth, women and children. The country continues to receive new arrivals, at least 500 people every day from South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia.”
Peace and stability is presently returning to many Horn countries. Eritrea and Ethiopia have ended decades of hostilities end decided to work together in sorting out the region’s urgent problems including the refugee challenge. South Sudan is rediscovering peace slowly, in its own way and at its own pace.
Somalia is no more the country ruled by terrorists and conditions are slowly ripening for the return or repatriation of tens of thousands of Somali refugees from Kenya and elsewhere. It is a matter of time before Somalia repatriates all its refugees from neighboring countries. South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia are likely to follow suite once a durable peace is reached between rival political groups there.
Generally speaking, the Horn of Africa is marching towards peace and stability and it would be a paradox to allow the refugee problem prevail under present circumstances. With greater regional and global economic cooperation, the refugee problem is bound to slowly give way to durable peace and economic growth. The resources spent on accommodating refugees would thus be used to develop the region as a whole and its separate entities in particular.
The international community too has a stake in supporting the repatriation of refugees from the region as well as those seeking asylum in Europe and elsewhere. Thousands of them are perishing in the high seas without reaching their destinations and this should not be allowed to continue anymore. By getting involved in IGAD’s current search for lasting solutions to the refugee problem, international partners are also alleviating the pressure on their respective countries by addressing the root causes of migration that are poverty and underdevelopment.
Charity start at home as they say and this adage has found expression at the end of last week’s 2nd Ministerial Stocktaking Meeting when IGAD member states agreed to maintain an open-door policy across member states and to operationalize reforms in national refugee laws and proclamations, refugee registration, issuance of identity cards, and inclusion of refugees in national development plans and development schemes to facilitate self-reliance and access to basic services, among other things.
Now that the lasting solutions are identified, IGAD is expected to put these pledges into action. This is indeed a big stride as far as the approach to the refugee problem in the Horn is concerned that needs to be implemented without delay.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 6 October 2019
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
