Introduction - Without proper nutrition, children are susceptible to more frequent and severe rnchildhood illnesses, stunted growth, developmental delays, and death. Previous studies show thatrnthe prevalence of undernutrition (stunting, wasting and underweight) is generally higher amongrnchildren with resettled (internally displaced) families compared to those of permanent residents. rnObjective - The objective of this study is to assess and compare nutritional status and identify itsrndeterminant factors among internally displaced and indigenous children of age 6-59 months inrnAmuru District, Horo Guduru Wollega Zone, West Oromia region. rnMethod - A community based comparative cross sectional study was conducted from March tornApril 2013. Structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information onrndemographic and economic factors and child care practices. Information on anthropometricrnindices was also collected using well-calibrated weighing scale and height measuring board. rnStratified sampling procedure was employed to select the required households. A total of 891rnchildren, 442 from Internally Displaced Peoples and 449 from Indigenous communities werernselected from eight kebeles by systematic sampling techniques. rnData entry was done with Epi info version 3.5.3 which was then exported to SPSS version 20rnstatistical package for analysis. The 2006 WHO standard was used to convert height and weightrnmeasurements into Z-scores. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analysis werernused as appropriate. rnResults â€“ A slightly higher percentage of children aged 6-59 months among IDPs had stuntingrncompared to those from Indigenous communities (52.9% versus 51.3%) although the differencernwas not statistically significant (p- value > 0.05). In contrast, there was a marked difference inrnthe rate of wasting in the two populations (21% among IDPs, 7.1% among indigenous) (p- valuern< 0.05). Similarly, the percentage of children who were categorized as underweight was muchrnhigher among IDPs (36.8%) compared to Indigenous communities (11.8%) (P-value < 0.05). Sexrnof child (being male), younger children and children who had been on bottle feeding werernsignificantly associated with stunting in both children of IDPs and Indigenous communities.rnInternal displacement was found to be a significant predictor of wasting [AOR: 95% CI: 2.4 (1.4, 4.1)] and under-weight [AOR: 95%CI: 2.4 (1.4, 3.9)] even after controlling for factors such asrnage of child, immunization, lack of farming lands, monthly income, parentâ€™s education,rnavailability of latrine and not having enough food in the households. rnConclusions and Recommendations -The study revealed that child malnutrition is a majorrnpublic health challenge in both IDPs and Indeginous communities of Oromia region. Howeverrnprevalence of underweight and wasting were particularly more pronounced among children ofrnIDPs compared to those of indigenous populations. Factors related to socio-demographic, accessrnto sanitary facilities and health service including being male, younger children, bottle feeding,rnnon-immunized children, not having farming lands, uneducated parents, not having latrine andrnpresence of diarrhea in the two weeks preceding the survey were identified as significantrnpredictors of the three forms of childhood malnutrition (stunting, wasting and under-weight). rnBased on the findings of the present survey, we recommend that policy makers consider thernstatus of displacement of communities in priority setting and designing nutrition programs asrnthey exhibit increased vulnerability to undernutrition and its negative consequences.