Unpacking the current internal displacement crisis in Ethiopia: root cause, governance and response

Abstract

ABSTRACT Forced internal displacement has become one of the prominent issues in the world today. Ethiopia is not an exception to this problem. The country has been witnessing the internal displacement of millions of people particularly since Prime Minister Abiy assumed power in 2018. However, the topic has not received adequate scholarly attention and this paper aims to fill in this gap and provide a contextualized and distinctive perspective by examining the root causes of the current internal displacement crisis, the governance mechanisms, and the responses taken by the government. As the finding reveals, the ideological antecedent of ethnic federalism has been the underlying drive behind ever-increasing conflict-induced internal displacements across different parts of the country. The government has been reluctant to recognize IDPs existence (particularly conflict-induced displacements) up until now and tried to address the IDPs issue in a fragmented manner. Yet, these governance and response undertakings were not without their setbacks. In conclusion, conflict-induced displacements are likely to continue unabated and remain a challenge for the country for the foreseeable future unless the ethnic-based political structure is somehow addressed.