In its annual report, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) says nearly 46 million people, almost twice the global number of refugees, have been uprooted within their own countries due to conflict and violence, and more than five million more as a result of natural disasters.
In the 22 years in which we have been counting, the global number of internally displaced people (IDPs) has never been as high as it is today.
Africa is a primary crucible of this global challenge. In 2019, over half of the world’s displacement by conflict – some 4.8 million movements – took place across the continent.
In 2019, we saw a massive escalation of conflict displacement due to armed insurgency in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.
2019 and displacement across Africa
We saw continued displacement caused by conflict in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.
Meanwhile just about every region on the continent was touched by natural disaster. 2019 saw Cyclones Idai and Kenneth destroying millions of homes and livelihoods in Southern and Eastern Africa, and uprooting over half a million people.
SOURCE: The Africa Report
