Sub-Saharan Africa: overtaking the Middle East With a decline in the number of people fleeing violence in the Middle East and a spike in DRC, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for the highest number of new internal displacements associated with conflict and violence in 2016. The majority occurred in DRC, where ongoing conflict in North and South Kivu and an increase in inter-communal clashes in southern and central regions such as Tanganyika, Kasai, Kasai-Oriental, Ituri and Uele, caused more than 922,000 new displacements in total during the year. Some people were forced to flee more than once. This was an increase of nearly 50 per cent on figures for 2015 (see spotlight, p.14). More than 500,000 new displacements were reported in Nigeria during the year, as violence committed by Boko Haram and military operations against the group continued to plague the economically deprived Lake Chad basin. Borno, Adamawa and Yobe were worst affected, and protection needs in all three states were acute, particularly for vulnerable groups such as women, children and older people. The insecurity also impeded access to IDPs and other people in need of urgent life-saving assistance, leaving many trapped by the conflict and reporting famine-like conditions.7 Against the backdrop of new displacement, around a million IDPs and refugees started to return toward their areas of origin in north-east Nigeria in 2016. Given, however, that many towns have been destroyed and insecurity persists across large areas of Borno, many communities are likely to continue living in internal displacement – around 80 per cent of them with host communities – and to be dependent on humanitarian support.8 South Sudan’s humanitarian crisis deepened in 2016, with more than 281,000 new displacements, some in areas previously considered stable. Armed conflict spread beyond the Greater Upper Nile region to new locations, particularly following July 2016 clashes in the capital city of Juba. These sparked an escalation of the conflict in many other areas in the latter half of the year, including the Greater Equatoria region and Unity.9 By December, one in four people in South Sudan had been forced to flee their homes since the conflict broke out in 2013.10 This included almost 1.9 million IDPs still internally displaced by end-2016, the majority of whom were children, and 1.3 million people who fled to neighbouring countries as refugees. Some found themselves caught up in circular displacement back and forth across borders (see spotlight, p.57). Around 212,000 IDPs had sought refuge in UN protection of civilian (PoC) sites by the end of the year, the highest number since the conflict began.11 The food security situation in South Sudan in 2016 was also at its most severe level since the crisis broke out.12 The combination of conflict, economic crisis and inadequate access to food has eroded vulnerable households’ ability to cope and added to the already complex and multiple drivers of population movements. Figure 1.5: Countries with most new displacements by conflict and violence in 2016 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000 Source: IDMC ON THE GRID: Global internal displacement in 2016 13