Six months ago refugees began fleeing Mali to Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso. Today, political instability in Bamako and insecurity in northern Mali continue to trigger the flight of thousands of refugees to neighbouring countries and other parts of Mali. Over 365,000 people are estimated to hav...

Conflict is normally cited by displaced Somalis as the main reason for flight, but in recent weeks we have seen an increase in IDPs and refugees also citing difficulty in providing for themselves. Over the past seven weeks we have registered some 6,000 Somalis who have cited such difficulties - usua...

UNHCR on Thursday appealed to donors to urgently provide additional funding for its operations to help Sudanese refugees in South Sudan and neighbouring Ethiopia. Currently there are some 162,500 refugees in South Sudan and 36,500 in Ethiopia. The contributions we have received for South Sudan have ...

We are very concerned about reports we are receiving concerning the tense and fragile security situation in the areas affected by the recent violence in Rakhine State. Even though the situation appears calm, we are still getting reports of violence and new displacements. In the days ahead, anyone...

A new UNHCR population assessment of the Afgooye corridor west of the Somali capital Mogadishu has found a significant reduction in the number of displaced people living there. From data collated in May we estimate that up to 120,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) may still be living along t...

It was with sadness that UNHCR learned yesterday of the drownings of some 47 Ethiopians in a boat capsizing incident on Lake Malawi. The exact number of deaths has not been determined. According to the reports we received, villagers around the lake found a dead body on Monday and buried it. On Tues...

UNHCR welcomes a decision by the Dominican Republic to reactivate its refugee eligibility commission that reviews asylum applications. Known as the CONARE - Comision Nacional para Refugiados - the commission held its first meeting since 2005 on June 13, reviewing some 19 asylum cases. This breakthro...

Embargo: 11:30 AM CET, 18 SEPTEMBER, 2012 Somalia’s Hawa Aden Mohamed wins the 2012 Nansen Refugee Award GENEVA, 18 September, 2012 – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced today in Geneva that this year’s Nansen Refugee Award goes to Hawa Aden Mohamed, the founder an...

Like two other refugee locations in Djibouti, Holl-Holl was an old camp that was closed in the mid-2000s, as a consequence of massive repatriations to Ethiopia and to the breakaway territory of Somaliland where the security situation has relatively improved during the last decade. Over the last 6 y...

HITSATS, Ethiopia, June 13 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has opened a new camp in northern Ethiopia to house the increasing number of Eritrean refugees entering the country. A total 776 Eritrean refugees have already been transferred to Hitsats Camp, which can house up to 20,000 refugees. "This...