Looking down from the bare peaks of South Bogota, the seemingly never-ending sprawl of the capital's slums stretches towards the blurred horizon. Thousands of Colombians from across the country have fled their homes to escape the country's armed conflict and settled in these impoverished suburbs seeking refuge and jobs.

In Altos de Cazuca, a slum neighbourhood perched perilously on mountain slopes, roughly half the residents are displaced. Flimsy wooden shacks and small brick houses line dirt tracks dotted with puddles. Roofs are made from scraps of corrugated iron held down by stones.

Colombians go the polls on Sunday (Oct. 28) to elect provincial governors, mayors and town councillors. Campaign slogans and posters of candidates with beaming smiles are splashed across buildings in Altos de Cazuca.

But their election promises seem irrelevant to Jesus Diaz, a 24-year-old Afro-Colombian from the Pacific Coast, whose family was forced off its farm three years ago after receiving death threats from a right-wing paramilitary group. Armed youths demanded that the Diaz family abandon their home as paramilitaries sought to control the local area by snatching swathes of land.

"The elections don't mean anything to me," says Jesus. "What's the point in getting involved? I can't even vote anyway."

Like thousands of displaced Colombians, Jesus can't vote in the forthcoming elections because he doesn't have a mandatory national identity card. Others have failed to register in time to vote. As a result, many find themselves disenfranchised.

The Human Rights and Displacement Consultancy (CODHES), a local non-governmental group, estimates that 320,000 displaced people don't have the right documents, and so will have their voting rights denied during these elections.

But even if Jesus could vote, he - like many in his position - feels disillusioned with politicians. "What's the point of voting? Nothing changes here," he says. "No candidate talks about helping displaced people, it's almost a non-issue. We've had a left-wing mayor in Bogota for some years now and even he's done little to help us."

Talk of tackling the country's displacement crisis on the campaign trail isn't seen as a vote winner and doesn't feature high up the political agenda - even as the numbers continue to rise.

DISPLACEMENT RISING

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 45,000 people were displaced in Colombia in 2005, and in 2006, 67,000. "This year, if this current situation continues, we'll reach nearly 72,000 new refugees," said Barbara Hinterman, head of the Red Cross in Colombia.

Threats, intimidation, killings and massacres carried out by leftist guerrillas, criminal gangs and former paramilitary groups have forced almost four million Colombians to abandon their homes between 1985 and 2007, according to CODES. But government figures put the number of displaced at less than 2 million.

"Colombia has one of the largest numbers of IDPs (internally displaced persons) in the world. Death threats, fighting, killings of family members and the forced recruitment of minors have led to constant displacement in various parts of the country," ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said last month.

Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities are particularly at risk, accounting for some 40 per cent of Colombia's internally displaced population.

People are forced from their homes by illegal land seizures, whether for agriculture or mineral resources. Or they are caught in the middle of clashes between left-wing guerrillas, right-wing militias and government armed forces. Civilians suspected of sympathising or collaborating with the opposite side are often ordered to leave, or even killed.

Displacement isn't just a side effect of Colombia's protracted internal armed conflict, but has become a goal in itself and is used as a military control strategy, says the Norway-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

The crisis has got worse in recent years due to an increase in government military operations against guerrilla groups, particularly in the southern provinces. More and more people are crossing into neighbouring Ecuador and Venezuela to escape the violence, according to CODHES.

Aerial crop-spraying campaigns aimed at destroying coca plants, the raw ingredient for cocaine, and manual crop eradication projects have also "exacerbated" the displacement crisis and forced people to spill over the border to seek asylum, CODHES says.

But, while thousands of displaced Colombians continue to be excluded from their country's democratic processes, it's unlikely their plight will improve significantly. Politically, there are no real signs of change, with the government doing little to encourage their participation in elections.

"It's easy for displaced people to be ignored, we've got no voice or say in our country," says Jesus. "Politicians don't face any pressure from society to think about us and do anything for us because we're not seen as potential votes."

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