IDPs

Reliefnet has a report out on Internally Displaced Peoples in Yemen stemming from the al-Huthi conflict in the north. I haven’t had time to read the full-report, but even the 1-page abstract is pretty sobering. The report estimates there are 100,000 IDPs, in addition to the 152,000 Somali refugees already in the country.

I don’t think anyone who reads this blog needs to be reminded how destabalizing refugees, traditonally defined, can be. Obviously, Yemen is struggling to take care of all the Somalis in the country, and is desperate for aid to help. The world is generally ok with giving aid, because it is seen as helping one country do a humanitarian duty.

IDPs are a different matter, and one for which no coherent strategy has come into play. For the “world community” to involve themselves with this problem is to wade directly in Yemeni politics. IDPs have the same destabalizing problems as traditional refugees but with the added bonus of potentially intense resentment, some fair, some not. I will read the full report tonight and see what they have to say. We don’t have any beer at home so I should be able to come up with a decent post about it.