More Families Flee Unrest Near Colombia’s Border With Panama, UN Refugee Agency Says
New York, Aug 3 2006 10:00AM
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said that increasing numbers of families are fleeing unrest near
Colombia’s border with Panama.
Citing the example of one victim of stepped up violence in northern Colombia, the agency profiled “Maria,” a 22-year-old
who fled her home village with her three children after her husband was killed by members of an irregular armed group.
They had been living in Arquía Limón, a tiny community right on the jungle-covered border with Panama. Like other border
regions in Colombia, Chocó is unstable – irregular armed groups vie for control of territory and the jungle's rich
natural resources, UNHCR said. Communities living on rivers cutting through the jungle are subject to frequent
blockades, threats, forced recruitment and killings – sometimes targeted and sometimes indiscriminate.
No one knows why Maria’s husband and the three other men died in Arquía Limón last month, but the UN refugee agency said
the impact of the killings was immediate: within hours, the community's 23 families had fled. In all, UNHCR estimates
that more than 500 people have arrived in Unguía since late July from Arquía Limón and surrounding communities.
Further south on the Atrato River, the small town of Ríosucio has also seen a growing number of families arrive in
recent weeks after fleeing stepped up violence further up the river. Local authorities tell UNHCR staff that many
families are so terrified they will not even come to register as displaced because they do not want their names to
appear on a list.
Those who do speak say that up to 14 plantation workers were killed by members of an irregular armed group in Taparali
in late July, according to UNHCR, which reported that their surviving colleagues are too scared to go back to work. As
well as displacement, the violence is causing serious economic problems for people who are among the poorest in the
country.
Many of those displaced in Ríosucio are of Afro-Colombian origin and UNHCR said there is growing concern about the fate
of indigenous communities along the river. Throughout Colombia, ethnic minorities are suffering disproportionately from
the conflict and are forced to leave their homes in large numbers.
There are an estimated 2.5 million internally displaced people in Colombia – the largest population of concern to UNHCR
in any country in the world. The refugee agency has been working on behalf of displaced people in Colombia since the
late 1990s to find durable solutions for those already displaced, guarantee the protection of the rights of displaced
people and avoid new forced displacement.
ENDS