Tuesday February 28, 2017
A regional special summit will be held in Nairobi in March to help find durable solutions for Somalia refugees, the bloc said on Monday.
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which comprises Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Sudan said the summit to be held on March 25 will renew efforts to find durable and sustainable solutions for the crisis facing Somalia refugees.
" The Summit in Nairobi will seek to galvanize recent developments at national, regional and global levels -- supported by international solidarity and responsibility sharing -- to reinforce asylum and protection in the region for the thousands of Somali refugees who still require it, while also renewing efforts to find durable and sustainable solutions," it said in a statement.
During the 28th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government held in Mogadishu on September 13, 2016, the regional leaders decided to convene the special summit.
More than two million Somalis have been displaced in one of the world's worst displacement crises that has now entered its third decade.
An estimated 1.1 million people are currently internally displaced (IDPs) within Somalia, while nearly 900,000 -- mostly third generation -- are refugees in the region, including in Kenya (324,000), Ethiopia (241,000), Yemen (255,000), Uganda (39,500), and Djibouti (13,000).