The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)
2006 Report

Gambella
In the remote South-western Gambella region, multiple ethnic conflicts between two main groups, the Anuak and the Nuer, displaced tens of thousand of people (OCHA Ethiopia, May 2004). A parallel conflict involved the Anuak and “Highlanders” (mostly resettled forcefully in the 1980s under the Dergue regime). Along with immigrating Nuer from Sudan, they reduced the Anuak to a minority group (HRW, 24 March 2005).

The long-standing conflict escalated in late 2003 and increasingly involved the Ethiopian army. At least 15,000 people, mostly Anuak, were forced to flee their homes in December 2003 (HRW, 24 March 2005; IRIN, 12 February 2004). Since then, and particularly after counter-attacks by Anuak on Highlanders, the army is reported to have committed widespread human rights violations against the Anuak throughout the region, in a climate of almost total impunity and adding to the general insecurity (UN CTE, 20 April 2005; HRW, 24 March 2005; Amnesty International, 17 December 2004). The central government assumed de facto regional control after a change in the regional government.

Incursions of Anuak and Nuer rebel groups from neighbouring Sudan have also caused displacement along the border. Occasional incidents of violence are still occurring in the region, displacing over 3,000 people in Nuer zone in early 2006 (UNCT, February 2006). With the continuously fragile security situation and inaccessibility of parts of Gambella to humanitarian actors, consistent displacement monitoring is virtually impossible and the UN maintains a working figure of 50,000 IDPs, pending assessment (OCHA, email correspondence, 7 February 2006; UN CTE, 20 April 2005).

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