Alleging pressure from irregular armed groups, 38 persons,
including adults and children, were recently forced to leave
Bazán, in the Colombian Department of Valle del Cauca.

The group left Bazán last week on a fisherman’s
boat and arrived in the Ecuadorian town of Tambillo in the San
Lorenzo District of the Esmeraldas Province after spending some 30
hours at sea.

IOM, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Municipality of San
Lorenzo, and the District Health Office, immediately provided
emergency assistance to the displaced which included registering
the group, identifying their basic needs in order to provide
humanitarian assistance and locating shelter, including
coordinating with the director of a local school to allow the use
of part of the school for sheltering the Colombians.
 Additionally, 30 mattresses, 13 mosquito nets, personal
hygiene kits, and food and medicines were provided.

Despite her precarious economic situation, Marisol Gamboa, 22,
told IOM she did not hesitate to leave her home and everything
behind in order to save her life. “We left our community
because we were threatened and we’ve arrived here with
nothing. But thanks to the help we have received from IOM, UNHCR,
and the San Lorenzo authorities, we have food, medicines, beds and
other things necessities,” she said.

According to testimonies gathered, the irregular armed groups
demanded that the population leave the area in 24 hours.  The
displaced Colombians are frightened and have said that they will
not return to their homes and that they will apply for refugee
status so that they can remain in Ecuador.

Tambillo is a community dedicated to small scale fishing
activities and the collection of shellfish and other products from
the mangrove ecosystem.  The village is located 45 minutes
from San Lorenzo via travel by river.  The population of 800
is entirely afro-Ecuadorian and lives in conditions of extreme
poverty.

IOM, as part of its Northern Border Development Programme,
financed by USAID and carried out in coordination with the national
government through the Northern Border Development Unit, built the
potable water system in Tambillo which is providing clean water for
the community.

Although there are no official statistics on the number of
Colombians currently in Ecuador, UNHCR estimates that some 250,000
of them are in need international protection.  Of this number,
42,444 have applied for refugee status. So far, only 13,185 have
received it.

The displacement of Colombians to Ecuador increased dramatically
in 2001 when the armed conflict in Colombia increased due to
increased actions by its government against irregular armed groups.
 No violent incursions of these groups have been registered
inside Ecuador.

For more information contact:

Maria Isabel Moncayo

IOM Ecuador

Tel: 22-53-948/49/50

E-mail: "mailto:mmoncayo@oim.or.ec" target="_blank" title=
"">mmoncayo@oim.or.ec