The ethnic conflict that occurred in the recent past on the border areas of Oromia and Ethio-Somali Regions affected the communities who were living in the disputed localities. Several number of Oromo communities had been displaced from their villages and temporarily settled in various places of Oromia regions. The government policy regarding the IDPs is to help them settle temporarily in various sites of Oromia Region and facilitate possible assistance support for their survival. CONCERNED VISIT: One of the sites where internally displaced people of Oromia temporarily settled is Kofele town and a total of 188 IDPs are living in camps in 01 kebele in Kofele town and getting almost no assistance so far.
Officials of ANE and ROBA visited the IDPs in Kofele on May 04, 2018 and discussed with the Woreda government Offices and the displaced community on the problems the IDPs faced. Even though the needs of the community are enormous, the officials of the two local NGOs promised to assist 188 IDPS with some basic food and food related items in a few days time. ROBA then prepared a project proposal and submitted to ANE. A total of birr 70,000 had been obtained from ANE and had been implemented as planned.
The objective of the project had been to provide some food items to188 IDPs temporarily settled in Kofele town of West Arsi Zone and had been implemented accordingly. Hence, a total os 2850 kgs of wheat flour and 96 liters of edible oil had been purchased from Shashamane and distributed to the beneficiaries in Kofele on May 31, 2018. The Kofele Woreda Administrator and representatives of Kofele Woreda Offices, Kofele town council and kebele community were at the IDPs camp site and witnessed the distribution of the food assistance. The beneficiaries and government officials expressed their gratitude to ANE and ROBA to fulfill their support promise within short period of time. ROBA is committed to work with all stakeholders to seek fund support that could be used to alleviate the problems of IDPs in the West Arsi Zone and other parts of the Region.
