The United Nations has issued an alert over the safety of at least 432 members of African-Colombian communities forcibly displaced in Nariño, southern Colombia. The group includes 232 children.
The displacement occurred on 4 July following confrontations between different armed groups operating in the area. The affected villages are Fátima, El Cedro, Papi La Playa, Papi La Unión, Papi Trinidad, Pato and Tamaje. The villages are located in the Roberto Payán municipality, where the victims are thought to have headed.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said those affected require ‘protection, shelter, water, basic sanitation, and nutritional food and nutritional food security’.
Despite the signing of the 2016 peace agreement, thousands of Colombians have been displaced in 2018. Colombia has the highest number of internally-displaced people in the world, with over seven million people forced from their homes by political violence.