 Colombia's civil war now rages through the country's rural areas |
Indigenous communities in Colombia are being forced to flee their homes as they are caught up in the country's civil conflict, the UN says. The UN refugee agency says that some 1,200 people have left their homes in the Narino region in recent days.
Some have headed into Ecuador, but the UN fears hundreds more could be trapped in another southern region, Putumayo.
Colombian government forces are fighting a bitter conflict against left-wing guerrillas.
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The UN fears that vital links between indigenous people and the land they have lived on for centuries could be broken if more people flee. Putumayo fears
A spokesman for the UN said that 29 families, or 114 people, from the Awa indigenous tribe had crossed into Ecuador seeking sanctuary.
"We fear that hundreds more may be currently displaced in the area or find themselves trapped in their villages by the armed groups, unable to find enough food and living under extremely dangerous security conditions," Ron Redmond said. People in the Narino region were caught up in similar fighting last year.
Mr Redmond also voiced concerns for people in the Putumayo region, following a guerrilla attack that killed 25 government troops on 25 June.
About 4,000 people in Teteye, Nuevo Horizonte, La Cabana and La Carmelita had been unable to move to safer areas inside Colombia because of armed groups blocking roads, he said.
Colombia's indigenous communities total about one million people out of a population of over 45 million.
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The Colombian conflict
