Ethiopia: Flash Update #3: Displacement in North Wello and Wag Hamra Zones, Amhara Region (As of 30 April 2024)
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Posted1 May 2024 Originally published30 Apr 2024 OriginView original
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This update is prepared by UNOCHA with the support and collaboration of IASC cluster coordinators and partners. Further updates will be provided, as needed. Boundaries, names and designations of districts/zones indicated in the narration in the report do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Please contact ocha-eth-communication@un.org for any comment or question you may have on this publication.
HIGHLIGHTS
- All the displaced population in the industrial site located some three kilometers of Kobo Town have returned or relocated since 22 April, but a significant number remain displaced elsewhere and need assistance.
- IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) team identified some 16,600 IDPs remaining in Kobo Town and 8,150 IDPs in Sekota Woreda and Sekota City Administration.
- An OCHA-facilitated inter-agency mission to Kobo Town and to Wajja in Raya Alamata Woreda on 25 April noted an ongoing response to humanitarian needs and identified significant gaps.
- Humanitarian organizations and local Government bureaus highlighted significant humanitarian needs across sectors during the North Wollo Zonal ad hoc ICP meeting held on 26 April.
- Some 149 schools were reportedly closed due to the recent clashes according to the Amhara Regional Education Bureau.
SITUATION OVERVIEW
The sudden escalation of hostilities in Alamata Town and surrounding rural towns in the north of Ethiopia since 13/14 April had displaced some 50,000 civilians to Kobo Town in North Wello Zone and to Sekota Town in Wag Hamra Zone of Amhara Region.
According to registrations made by the North Wollo Zonal Disaster Risk Management Office (DRMO), with the support from various Government entities and operational partners, 31,946 people (of which 47 per cent were female) from Raya Alamata, Bala and Alamata Town (North Wollo) and 8,327 people (of which 45 per cent were female) from Korem Zata and Ofla (Wag Hamra) were displaced to the industrial site located some three kilometers from Kobo Town. An additional 11,251 people from Korem Zata and Ofla were reportedly displaced to Sekota in Wag Hamra Zone as of 29 April, according to the Wag Hamra Zone Disaster Risk Management Office.
All of the displaced population in the industrial site have either returned since 22 April and taken refuge with host communities or relocated to Wajja primary school and Koba site in Wajja Kebele, Raya Alamata Woreda, for lack of adequate response and inadequate shelter conditions at the industrial site as well as protection and health risks. Koba site was later deemed unsafe for the IDPs for security reasons and IDPs are no longer sheltering there. On 25 April, IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) team identified some 16,604 IDPs remaining in Kobo (of the 31,946 IDPs from Alamata and surrounding areas initially registered). The DTM team also confirmed the presence of 8,150 IDPs in Sekota Woreda and in Sekota City Administration, the majority of whom (96 per cent) are staying with host communities. The team has yet to verify the 8,327 people reported from Wag Hamra. The security situation in the area remains volatile.
Meanwhile, on 25 April, OCHA facilitated an inter-agency mission to Kobo Town and to Wajja primary school, including with representatives from zonal authorities. The mission witnessed thousands of IDPs receiving food assistance provided by the Government in Kobo, after which they returned to Wajja primary school. Humanitarian partners have also mobilized responses to the remaining IDPs, but the ongoing support is insufficient. Multi-sector and multi-agency humanitarian response coordination is ongoing through the existing Incident Command Post (ICP) weekly meeting chaired by the Zone DRMO and OCHA.
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