Fighting in Somalia's capital sparks massive refugee exodus (CNN)

[Liibaan]

 

 

 

U.N.: Fighting in Somalia's capital sparks massive refugee exodus

U.N.: Fighting in Somalia's capital sparks massive refugee exodus

 

 

(CNN) -- Around 204,000 people have fled their homes in the Somali capital of Mogadishu as a result of a militant offensive against government forces, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

 

The eight-week long push by Al-Shaabab and Hisb-ul-Islam militias has prompted what the agency calls "the biggest exodus from the troubled Somali capital since the Ethiopian intervention in 2007."

 

"The escalating conflict in Mogadishu is having a devastating impact on the city's population causing enormous suffering and massive displacement," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

 

The agency said its local partners in the capital reported that fighting over the past week "has killed some 105 people and injured 382."

 

"Neighborhoods affected by the fighting include Kaaran, Shibis, Shangaani and Boondheere in North Mogadishu. These areas have hitherto been islands of peace, escaping much of the conflict and destruction. Many residents are fleeing their homes for the first time since the start of the Somali civil war in 1991," the agency said.

 

The agency said the number of internally displaced people in Somalia amounts to more than 1.2 million people.

 

There has been growing concern that Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, could be the next base for al Qaeda as U.S. forces pound their positions in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

Last month, a U.S. State Department spokesman said the United States is providing weapons and ammunition to Somalia's transitional government as it fights al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants.

 

CIA Director Leon Panetta recently said that the intelligence agency is keeping tabs on the region as a possible destination for fleeing al Qaeda operatives.

 

"Our concern right now is that likely safe havens are areas in the Horn of Africa, like Somalia and Yemen, that are countries that because of their political status can be attractive to al Qaeda in order to operate there," Panetta said earlier this month.

 

Al-Shaabab, also known as the Mujahideen Youth Movement, was officially designated as a terrorist organization by the United States in March 2008. It is waging a war against Somalia's government in an effort to implement a stricter form of Islamic law.

 

Fighting forces 204,000 to flee Mogadishu

 

 

Fighting between Islamist militias and government-aligned forces has caused 204,000 people to flee Mogadishu since May and forced the closure of some of the Somali capital's few health centres, the UN refugee agency said today.

 

The eight-week offensive by the al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam guerillas was devastating parts of north Mogadishu that had until now been "islands of peace", UNHCR said. Many residents were fleeing their homes for the first time since the country's descent into anarchy in 1991.

 

At least 105 people have been killed in the past week alone. Almost half a million people are living in temporary shelters made from sticks and plastic sheeting along the road to Afgooye, west of Mogadishu.

 

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) said there was a "desperate" shortage of food and water there. The aid organisation added that continuous shelling and open combat had forced it to close three clinics and a paediatric hospital in north Mogadishu last week.

 

"The population is terrorised, and in the past two weeks the number of dead and wounded has drastically increased. It has become impossible to provide medical and humanitarian assistance to those in need," said Monica Camacho, general co-ordinator of the MSF mission in Somalia.

[Liibaan]

Mogadishu "descending into chaos"

 

 

Alanna Shaikh - July 7, 2009 - 12:30pm

 

 

MSF just put out a warning that the majority of the populaiton of north Mogadishu has fled as fighing escalated in the Somali capital. They have even had to close a pediatric hospital and three health clinics in the city.

 

MSF just put out a warning that the majority of the populaiton of north Mogadishu has fled as fighing escalated in the Somali capital.

 

Somalia has displaced people in clusters throughout the country; 1.2 million people are now displaced. Things there are so bad and dangerous that you can find people fleeing to the same places others are fleeing from, as each family tries to calculate their best odds for safety. The capital, Mogadishu, is an example; it’s got ten years of internally displaced persons (IDPs) accumulated in camps in and around the city. Right now, people from conflict-affected villages are heading for Mogadishu even as people are leaving the city in droves. 204,000 people have been displaced from Mogadishu since May, one of the worst waves that has been seen. At the same time, about 30,000 have arrived to the city since February. Reliefweb has an excellent map of population movements.

 

That was a really long introduction to possibly the only good news you will hear about Somalia for the next year. Women’s groups in Mogadishu are doing their best to help IDPs in the city. Asha Sha'ur, an activist, described in IRIN Africa how women’s groups can access IDP camps. “We have had problems but both sides to the conflict have been good at allowing us [women] to help the needy. When they see a bunch of women they don’t bother us…” Larger agencies are trying to tap into that ability to move freely and understand local context; the UN is looking for consultants from the Somali diaspora willing to do 3-6 month consultancies in-country.

 

 

 

Somalia / Massive population displacement

 

 

 

 

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia, July 8, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Daily press briefing by the office of the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general.

 

 

 

On Somalia, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is warning that escalating fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, is causing enormous suffering and massive displacement, with a devastating impact on the city’s population.

 

 

 

UNHCR says an eight-week offensive by anti-Government militiamen has now left more than 200,000 people displaced. The agency’s local partners have put the death toll in the past week alone at more than one hundred, with nearly 400 others injured.

 

 

 

The agency says that though the majority of the displaced are seeking assistance in the Afgooye corridor, some 30 kilometres west of Mogadishu, thousands more have been crossing the border into Kenya, where they are seeking help at the UNHCR-run Dadaab refugee complex.