Latest armed clashes in Colombia force hundreds from their homes, reports UN

Heavy fighting in south-western Colombia between Government troops and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) uprooted some 600 people at the weekend, the United Nations humanitarian arm reported today.

Members of five Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities have escaped armed clashes in the rural town of El Charco, the area most affected by the mass displacement of 2007 when 15,000 people were forced from their homes.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is monitoring the situation and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has sent an assessment team to determine the basic needs of those who have fled their homes.

UNHCR reported about two weeks ago that some 2,000 indigenous Embera people were displaced last month from their collective territories in different areas along the Baudó River in the Colombian department of Chocó as a result of threats and conflict between two illegal armed groups.

In addition, more than 1,000 Embera were displaced in March in the Upper Baudó region in southern Chocó, along Colombia’s Pacific coast.

According to UNHCR, at least 27 different indigenous groups are considered to be at risk of extinction in Colombia, largely as a result of armed conflict and forced displacement. Their survival depends greatly on being able to remain on their traditional lands.