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IOM Regional Office for East and Horn of Africa - September 2018 Bulletin

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Foreword from the Regional Director

Welcome to the September edition of the UN Migration Agency Bulletin for the East and Horn of Africa.

Let me start by mentioning some of the milestone occurrences in the region over the past few months. In September, we saw the landmark declaration of peace and friendship, casting aside decades of hostility between Ethiopia and Eritrea taking shape. Furthermore, Ethiopia,
Eritrea and Somalia held a high level ministerial meeting that culminated in a joint declaration on comprehensive cooperation between the three countries. This will see closer political, economic, social and cultural ties and improved coordination to promote regional peace and security and will contribute to economic integration in the region. This was shortly followed by the opening of two border posts between Eritrea and Ethiopia that had previously been closed for 20 years.
In Ethiopia, IOM and partners provided assistance to the more than 960,000 people displaced due to conflict in Gedeo and West Guji regions. Humanitarians estimate that some 400,000 of these people have since returned to their homes but are in need of immediate humanitarian support. IOM has also provided non-food items to more than 7,000 households to date in Kenya’s counties of Kilifi, Tana River and Isiolo where an estimated 300,000 people were displaced by flash floods in April and May.

To improve literacy levels in South Sudan, teams of women are receiving English lessons as part of efforts to empower them to get job opportunities, while in Uganda IOM is running a campaign in the capital Kampala to address violent extremism. In other developments, IOM, under the Better Migration Management (BMM) programme and the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa, conducted a five-day Training of Trainers for health providers on caring for victims of trafficking and mental health considerations for migrants in vulnerable situations from 10 to 14 September 2018.

The region continues to be on the move, flow monitoring data for January to June 2018, collated by IOMs Regional Data Hub, noted over 390,000 migrant movements in Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The data points to significant movement within the region, followed closely by movement towards the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with less movement Northwards or to the South. In Yemen IOM recorded over 50,000 arrivals in the first half of 2018. The country is experiencing what the UN has described as the world’s ‘worst humanitarian crisis,’ yet for some migrants the country represents a gateway to better opportunities. This situation contradicts earlier held expectations that the conflict (and deteriorating conditions) would lead to fewer arrivals. In doing so, the continued in-migration from the Horn of Africa has underscored the region’s complex migration dynamics. Next month we intend to publish a mid-year trends analysis which will give more detail of the migration dynamics in the region.

We continue to engage with our partners and governments across the region to ensure migration works for the benefit of all!

Jeffrey Labovitz
IOM Regional Office for East and Horn of Africa