Ethnicity, Displacement And National Integration: Three Pronged, Challenges To Ethiopia

Abstract

Displacement (expulsion from a habitual residence) and migration (voluntary
movement to another locality) seem to be common phenomena these days. In 1995,
there were about 20 million displaced persons in the world within the borders of their
own country (UN, 1995). Also, th~re were 27 mil,lion refugees world-wide and 8
million of them lived in Africa. Estimates show that about 1.6 million persons have
been displaced in Ethiopia in the past several years. This includes ever 871 ,000
Ethiopians who were refugees in the neighboring countries (mainly The Sudan,
Djibouti and The Republic of Somalia) and who returned to Ethiopia in the past four
to five years (MOLSA, 1995).
Persons who are displaced due to ethnic conflicts number in to about 330,000, not
including those who are expelled from Eritrea (including Asseb) and those who have
abandoned resettlement areas (MOLSA, 1995). GTZ (1994) estimated that 200,000
persons are expelled from Eritrea and those who have abandoned resettlement areas
(mostly due to ethnic conflicts) were about 25\000. These figures do not include
close to 400,000 demobilized soldiers of the previous government. Though it is
difficult to give exact figures on the number of persons or families who are displaced
due to ethnic conflicts, various reports and field visits show that the number is large
and perhaps over half a million persons.