Some 800 families have been forced to leave privately owned sites, with more evictions planned
DAKAR (AlertNet) - Thousands of people uprooted from their homes by post-electoral violence in Ivory Coast have been turned out of privately owned settlement sites, and further evictions are planned, the International Organisation for Migration said on Friday.
Fourteen sites for internally displaced people (IDPs) have been closed in the past few months, mainly in the west and southeast, forcing 800 families to seek shelter for a second time, many with host communities.
“Pressure on IDPs to leave camps has grown as private owners of empty buildings, including churches and schools, try to regain their property,” the IOM said in a statement.
“The growing number of evictions is also adding to the human insecurity and (poor) health of the IDPs with many suffering grief and stress-related conditions,” the organisation added.
The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) confirmed the closure of some camps, and said 10 other sites hosting more than 4,600 people could be shut down in the next few weeks. The organisation said it has been taking steps to tackle the situation together with the Ivorian authorities.
“UNHCR has spoken to all the ministers involved and the (U.N.) Humanitarian Coordinator has raised the issue,” Tedenek Fantaye, a UNHCR reporting officer, told AlertNet from Abidjan.
The UNHCR has also been in touch with the sites’ proprietors in a bid to help the displaced families, Fantaye added.
NO HOMES TO RETURN TO
Fighting between forces loyal to President Alassane Ouattara and predecessor Laurent Gbagbo killed at least 3,000 people and displaced a million before Gbagbo was ousted in April, ending a vicious power struggle sparked by a disputed presidential election last November.
The IOM says an estimated 600,000 people were sheltering in displacement camps at the peak of the post-election conflict in April. But this number has fallen dramatically to nearly 26,000 people in 35 sites.
Those still living in camps are mainly people whose homes were destroyed in the conflict and others who fear that those now occupying their land will refuse to leave as a result of long-standing inter-ethnic and land-tenure problems, the organisation said.
"Transitional shelter is urgently needed for the displaced, particularly for those who want to return to their home villages but can't because their homes were destroyed," said David Coomber, the IOM chief of mission in Ivory Coast.
"In parallel, ethnic and land issues have also to be resolved in a durable way if we are to avoid seeing a repetition of conflict and forced migration,” he added.
(Editing by Megan Rowling)
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