According to a Save the Children Situation report that came out in December, levels of humanitarian need are extremely high given that most displaced people from the armed conflict along the Somali/Oromia border, are already in drought affected zones.
According the over view of the report on the situation, displaced people live in approximately 100 sites in addition to those in host communities.
It also states that displaced people in many locations are frustrated that numerous assessments have been carried out without humanitarian assistance. “The government therefore urges humanitarian agencies not to carry out verification assessment exercises unless they can ensure humanitarian assistance follows immediately as the current coverage is very little and a vast majority of internally displaced people are not receiving assistance in the ongoing collective response,” it reads.
According to a recent multi agency team assessment looking at people internally displaced through the conflict. As assessment of humanitarian needs, vulnerability and potential risks clearly indicated the need for life-saving interventions for food security, emergency shelters, WASH, health, nutrition, education and child protection needs. The findings of the assessment also show that cumulative effects of the drought and conflict-induced displacement is adding further stress to food reserves and water sources.
Staring in September 2017, armed conflict broke out between ethnic Oromo and Somalia inhabitants along the Somali/Oromia regional border. Although no official statistics are available on the number of people dead or seriously injured on both sides, many women and children and elderly are believed to have been affected, Save the Children says. In many Kebele’s and villages that were attacked, houses were burned, assets and personal belongings looted, and community assets destroyed, including looting of schools, health centers and mill houses.
The recent report by Ethiopia’s National Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector estimated that 929,000 people; 600,000 in Oromia and 329,000 in Somalia, have been displaced due to the border conflict between the two ethnic groups that started in April 2017 and escalated in late September 2017.
According to the humanitarian agency, there are reportedly a significant number of malnourished children, pregnant girls due to child marriage, children with physical and mental disabilities, physical injuries, separated and unaccompanied children, and children with deteriorating physiological situations. Most of school age children of displaced communities are not attending school since there is no established emergency school at many of the displaced people sites.