The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in East Africa and the Horn of Africa has dropped considerably in the past six months, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported on Friday.
A new report from the IOM says the reason for the drop was largely due to the return home of 1.3 million Ethiopians displaced by communal violence in 2019.
Moreover, another 200,000 former IDPs were able to return to their homes in South Sudan and other neighbouring countries.
At the midpoint of 2019 the East and Horn of Africa region was home to 8.1 million IDPs and 3.5 million refugees and asylum-seekers.
Today, the 3.5 million refugees and asylum seekers remain, but there are only 6.3 million IDPs, IOM says in its report released on Friday.
This represents almost a 22 percent fall in IDPs in the region in just six months, according to the report, entitled Region on the Move.
It provides an overview of migration patterns in the region.
“The overall drop in the number of internally displaced persons in East & Horn of Africa means peace and security has returned and migrants feel safe to return home,” Mohammed Abdiker, Regional Director, IOM, East & Horn of Africa is quoted in the report as saying.
Comparatively, the number of arrivals of East & Horn of Africa migrants registered across European arrival points in Greece, Italy and Spain fell from 4,624 in 2018 to 3,452 in 2019.
MG/as/APA