This article investigates the multifaceted impacts of refugees on the host communities in south Eastern Ethiopia. Throughout the world, the UNHCR engaged in hosting, feeding, sheltering, clothing and educating the refugees and addressing the impacts on the host communities. In hosting refugees, many communities face various forms of socio-cultural influences and economic challenges. Many hosting governments have restricted refugees to camps because they consider long-term refugee presence to be un economic burden and social challenge. This article examines the socio-cultural, economic and environmental impacts of the Somali refugees on the host Ethiopian Somali communities in a remote arid area of Bokolmanyo, in the Ethiopian Somali Region, Liban Zone, Dollo Ado Woreda, near the border with Somalia. The inhabitants of Bokolmanyo belong to the agro-pastoralist Degodia sub clan of the Hawiye clan. Unlike many other communities, where refugees are restricted to the camps, in Bokolmanyo, Dollo Ado the refugees move freely among the host communities and even to other parts of Ethiopia, and Somalia. There is a good social relation between the host community and the refugees and have been intermarriages between refugees, and the host communities and even Ethiopian soldiers. The hosts and the refugees also attend social events like weddings, funerals, mosque services, festivals and other communal occasions. Despite this, there are visible negative impacts on the host communities including environmental degradation, poor sanitation, scarcity of land, and security issues. On the other hand, the provisions of telecommunication service, schools, solar power, health posts, clinics, pharmacies, restaurants, riverbank irrigation schemes, and potable water, police post, are some of the positive impacts of the refugees in the area. Bokolomanyo turned from a small agro-pastoral settlement into an urban centre. The host communities benefited better modern infrastructure including access to transportation, market and expansions of small businesses run by both refugees and local communities in comparison to the pre-refugee era.
