By Conor Foley
Guardian Unlimited

One of the arguments used in favour of “humanitarian interventions” is that conflicts, by uprooting large numbers of people, have a destabilising effect that extends beyond the borders of the state in which they take place. It is, therefore, in the self-interest of the countries of the rich world to intervene to help bring such conflicts to an end. The number of refugees peaked during the mid-1990s, which coincided with humanitarian crises such as Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and has largely been declining since that date.

Last year bucked that trend and it is not difficult to think of the reason. According to the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNCHR), the number of refugees rose by 14% to almost 10 million in 2006 and this was “mainly due to the crisis in Iraq”. Around 1.2 million Iraqis sought refuge in neighbouring Jordan and Syria while a further 300,000 Iraqis fled to other countries abroad, which was a more than fivefold increase over the year. Although there has been some small-scale return in recent months, the basic trend remains upward.

The other main groups of refugees, under UNHCR’s mandate, are Afghans, Sudanese and Somalis. The number of Afghans returning home has been falling year by year since its peak in 2002, just after the ousting of the Taliban. The end of the conflict in southern Sudan has seen a significant return there, but this has been balanced by many leaving the country due to the crisis in Darfur (do please support the appeal for helicopters for the peacekeeping mission).

The humanitarian crisis of the year, though, is Somalia. The country was illegally invaded by Ethiopian Woyanne troops, backed by the US military, last December and has been descending ever deeper into catastrophe since. Over a million people have been displaced from their homes and 60% of Mogadishu’s population have fled from renewed fighting. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) describes the current situation there as “desperate” and fears are rising about another famine.

Eight journalists have been killed in Somalia this year. The transitional Somali government has repeatedly shut down media outlets. It has also harassed and obstructed humanitarian organisations trying to assist the displaced population, including detaining the head of the UN’s world food programme (WFP) for five days in October, causing the suspension of food distributions to at least 75,000 people. Ethiopian Woyanne troops have carried out mass summary executions and rapes of civilians in retaliation for recent attacks by rebel groups in the predominately Somali Ogaden region and burned down villages as part of a “scorched earth” campaign. Although UN officials have described the situation in Somalia as the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, the security council has failed to sanction Ethiopia for its actions.
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Conor Foley is a humanitarian aid worker. He has worked for a variety of human rights and humanitarian aid organizations, including Liberty, Amnesty International and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He currently lives and works in Brazil, and is a research fellow at the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham.