Some 18.6 million people are internally displaced in the Horn of Africa region, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a report released on Friday.
The United Nations migration agency noted that the displaced population is mostly in Sudan (49 percent), Somalia (19 percent), Ethiopia (19 percent) and South Sudan (11 percent).
"There are 8.1 million newly forcibly displaced people due to the outbreak of conflict in Sudan, including 6.3 million internally and 1.9 million in neighboring countries," the IOM said.
Other causes of displacement in the region are natural disasters like drought and floods linked to El Nino rains, it said.
"Movements tracked due to natural disasters increased in May 2023 and remained relatively high until January 2024. Movements due to food insecurity also increased between May and October 2023 due to widespread floods in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia causing livestock death and crop failure," the IOM said.
Most of these movements, said the IOM, were heading to camps in Ethiopia (87 percent), Kenya (8 percent) and Somalia (5 percent).
The number of internally displaced persons may increase in the coming months as the region is forecasted to experience enhanced rainfall between March and May.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction Center, in its latest forecast, noted that Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan as well as Uganda and Tanzania would experience heavy rainfall and flooding, exacerbating the lingering effects of El Nino rains that happened in 2023 and drought earlier in the year.
About 58 million people are acutely food insecure in the Greater Horn of Africa region due to recent floods, conflict and drought, according to IGAD and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
