By IANS
Geneva : The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said at least 2,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in northeastern Arauca province of Columbia under threats from armed insurgent groups to vacate the area.
According to agency spokesman William Splinder, more than half of these refugees have fled to the city of Saravena, where some are staying with friends and family and others have taken refuge in public buildings and schools, Spain’s EFE news agency reported Wednesday.
Local authorities and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) have started distributing aid packages among the affected people, Splinder said.
He said that the local authorities were quick to respond to the problem but they need regional and national assistance because the needs of the refugees could not be fully met locally.
Results of a study carried out by the ICRC and the U.N World Food Program confirm that displaced Colombians are “the poorest of the poor”.
According to the findings released last month, “between 40 and 70 percent of adults in displaced households eat less than three meals a day, while in 25 percent to 52 percent of (these homes) children eat fewer than three meals a day because their families do not have enough money to buy food.”
Colombia, plagued by an internal conflict involving leftist rebels, government forces and right-wing militias, has the largest population of internal refugees in the western hemisphere with nearly two million to four million people affected.