UN: Somalia crisis worst in Africa

[Castro]

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2007

4:04 MECCA TIME, 1:04 GMT

 

The UN says 173,000 people have fled the fighting in Mogadishu in just the past two weeks [AFP]

 

The UN says the humanitarian crisis in Somalia is now the worst in Africa.

 

John Holmes, the UN humanitarian affairs chief, said civilians were increasingly bearing the brunt of the fighting between government forces backed by Ethiopia and fighters loyal to the Islamic Courts group.

 

 

"I appeal to all those with guns, whether government, insurgent or Ethiopian troops, to refrain from indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks affecting civilians," he said.

 

More residents fled Mogadishu on Monday, adding to a growing humanitarian crisis as government forces backed by Ethiopian tanks stepped up efforts to crush fighters loyal to the Islamic Courts group.

 

Forced to flee

 

At least 70 people have been killed in more than a week of fighting that has driven tens of thousands of Somalis from their homes, residents and aid workers say.

 

Somalis are fleeing the fighting

any way they can [AFP]

 

The United Nations refugee agency estimates that 173,000 people have fled the fighting in the capital Mogadishu in just the past two weeks alone, bringing the total number of displaced people in Somalia to 850,000.

 

Hawa Amed, a 40-year-old mother of eight, said she had wanted to stay in her house deep in the sprawling Bakara Market, where allied Somali-Ethiopian troops were hunting for fighters and their hidden arms caches over the weekend.

 

"But after two policemen were killed outside on Sunday, we had to run," she told Reuters as she left the city on foot, her youngest child strapped to her back.

 

"We are now heading to Madina District ... we don't know how we will survive."

 

Hospitals overwhelmed

 

Not only are refugees overwhelming areas outside Mogadishu, wounded civilians are overflowing the local hospitals.

 

Returning from a visit to Mogadishu, European Commission officials said some 5,000 Somalis had been treated for war-related injuries in hospitals there since the start of the year, and that about a third of those were women and children.

 

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow said in a city where few things worked apart from weapons, it was the lack of healthcare that was most appalling.

 

The under-equipped and under-staffed Madina hospital, one of only three offering help to Mogadishu's sick and wounded, dozens of patients arrive daily.

 

A typical day for the surgical staff has them working round the clock to remove bullets, fix ripped intestines and perform amputations.

 

Relatives of patients have to help perform duties such as feeding and wheeling them between operating theatres and wards.

 

Space is also at a premium and patients are released early and the corridors are used as extra sleeping space to cope.

 

Ethiopian and Somali government troops have been battling Islamic Courts fighters in the Horn of Africa nation since Addis Ababa helped the interim administration rout them in January following a two-week war.

 

'When elephants fight'

 

About 1,600 Ugandan peacekeepers were deployed in Mogadishu in March as the vanguard of a proposed 8,000-strong African Union force. No other nation has so far sent troops, although a similar number of Burundians are due to arrive this month.

 

Pascale Lund, the senior Red Cross official in Somalia, appealed to both sides of the conflict to "respect the international humanitarian law".

 

But Somalia's president says civilian casualties in Mogadishu are unavoidable.

 

"When two elephants fight, the grass gets damaged. We are not the cause of these deaths. It is being caused by those who attack the government. [ilaahay meel baas kaa tuur]

 

"I urge the public to ask the militias fighting the government not to wage attacks from where they live," Abdullahi Yusuf said.

 

Radio stations shut down

 

The government also appeared to wage war on the media on Tuesday, storming two radio stations in Mogadishu and ordering them off the air.

 

Workers fled Radio Banadir and Simba Radio when heavily-armed troops entered their compound on Tuesday.

 

Mustafa Haji, chief editor of Simba Radio, said: "They said the order to close the radio station will affect all independent stations in Mogadishu."

 

Ali Muhamed Aden, deputy director of Radio Banadir, said: "They terrorised the employees... All the reporters panicked and ran."

 

The move came a day after Shabelle Radio was shut down and two of its senior staff briefly detained.

 

Shabelle said on its website that it had received no explanation for its closure or been told how long it would last. It said it was the eighth time this year that the government had shut it down.

 

"There has been pressure, intimidation and death threats to the journalists from the government and other people," it said.

 

Eight local reporters have been killed while doing their jobs in Somalia this year.

 

The authorities accused Shabelle and other Somali news organisations of supporting the Islamic Courts fighters earlier this year.

 

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

[Castro]

More than 170,000 flee Mogadishu fighting in two weeks: UN

 

17 hours ago

 

MOGADISHU (AFP) — More than 170,000 people have fled fighting in Somalia's capital in the past two weeks, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday, worsening a humanitarian crisis already facing the country.

 

With near-daily clashes between Ethiopia-Somali forces and Islamist rebels, the UNHCR said it was doling out its last stocks from Mogadishu to the displaced, but warned of tough conditions as host areas struggle with the influx.

 

Some 90,000 people have fled to Afgooye, 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Mogadishu, which has already taken in some 150,000 displaced people since the beginning of the year.

 

In the Afgooye area, "people can no longer find space for shelter around the town itself," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told journalists in Geneva.

 

"Many families are simply living under trees. Although several NGOs are trucking water to the sites, it's not enough to meet demand," he added.

 

Traders stayed away from the volatile Bakara market, where forces have been searching for weapons. Government troops patrolled strategic positions in the city, but insurgents stayed out of sight, an AFP reporter said.

 

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed urged Mogadishu residents to join the fight against rebels or risk getting caught in the ensuing crossfire.

 

"People in neighbourhoods must also fight the Shabab and chase them away. Otherwise they are the ones who suffer in crackdowns," he said, referring to the radical armed wing of the main Somali Islamist movement.

 

Dozens of people, mainly civilians, have been killed and at least 170,000 displaced in some of the worst fighting since April, when Ethiopian troops swept aside the Islamists who had briefly governed much of the country, including Mogadishu.

 

Witnesses said Ethiopian forces indiscriminately shot civilians in a bid to clamp down on insurgents.

 

"When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers," Yusuf told reporters, but the UN special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said such impunity was "unacceptable".

 

Ould-Abdallah raised the prospect of retribution for alleged war crimes that have long been ignored.

 

"People perpetuating crimes and violence are not being challenged before the International Criminal Court," he said.

 

"I think the time has come to see what international justice can do to help Somalis," he told a press conference in Nairobi, where he became the first top UN envoy to make such a call for trials before the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.

 

The recent clashes have worsened the humanitarian crisis that has dogged the nation for 16 years, with areas just outside the city struggling to cope with the latest influx of displaced people.

 

The Shabelle region -- Somalia's breadbasket -- has suffered its worst crop in 13 years, putting the lives of nearly a million on the edge of starvation.

 

Aid workers have also said that the few who remained in the worst-affected areas of Mogadishu are beyond the reach of the relief net and face dire conditions.

 

Dampening peace prospects, Yusuf said future peace talks, if any, would exclude Islamists, some of whose elements have been accused of terrorism.

 

"I will hold dialogue and consultations and reach peace deals with any group that will denounce violence."

 

In Mogadishu, government forces yanked two more radio stations off the air, a day after shutting Radio Shabelle, one of the largest broadcasters in the capital.

 

The government said stations that "exaggerate the (security) situation" will be shut.

 

Ould-Abdallah condemned the closure, saying: "This is the kind of thing that should be avoided."

 

The International Federation of Journalists said the move was "appalling" and demanded the channels be reopened "immediately and unconditionally."

 

Bloody clan bickering and power struggles that intensified after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre have scuppered many bids to stabilise Somalia.

 

Source

[Paragon]

Returning from a visit to Mogadishu, European Commission officials said some 5,000 Somalis had been treated for war-related injuries in hospitals there since the start of the year, and that about

a third of those were women and children.

Aamiin Illaahoow u gaargaar masaakiinta dhibaataysan iyo dhamaan inta ay daallimiinta najista ah ee Tigreega iyo laga-roone-yaasha tfg dulminayaan. Dukum daakum Allaha idinka gaalo iyo intii u dabadh.ilifeysaba. Illaahane dhulka idin la go'

 

"When two elephants fight, the grass gets damaged. We are not the cause of these deaths. It is being caused by those who attack the government. [ilaahay meel baas kaa tuur]

Habaarkaaga mid lala jiro Allaha inooga dhigo. Aamiin.

 

FG: Adeer I am having to restrain myself back. There must be something we can do directly rather than organising and campaigning. Naftuu haduu Alle igu daayo, I am heading home. This is my only chance inaan ama gaalo kun ka dilo ama gacan iga xaq daran i disho oo aan ku jano tago. I've had enough of watching myself.

[Abwaan]

Nah, Dowladda ayaa ku guuleysatay nabadgeliyadii ugu fiicnayd 17kii sano ee ugu dambeeyey...Indho adakaa C/llaahi Yuusuf iyo Moo ryaantiisa Soomaalida ah intay dadkii xasuuqeen bay meelaha hadalladaas la gebgeb leeyihiin.

[Ibtisam]

When two elephants fight, the grass gets damaged. We are not the cause of these deaths. It is being caused by those who attack the government.

How can he compare human loss to the grass, what kind of animal...never mind..

 

 

Xubeer I think you should take few people with you... Or how about starting on some of the ones on SOL and in London. I'll arrange to meet them, you bring the weapon, you will have better chance of survival and achieving your goal here than if you run in straight there as you will not know who is who.

[Ibtisam]

When two elephants fight, the grass gets damaged. We are not the cause of these deaths. It is being caused by those who attack the government.

How can he compare human loss to the grass, what kind of animal...never mind..

 

 

Xubeer I think you should take few people with you... Or how about starting on some of the ones on SOL and in London. I'll arrange to meet them, you bring the weapon, you will have better chance of survival and achieving your goal here than if you run in straight there as you will not know who is who.

[Ibtisam]

When two elephants fight, the grass gets damaged. We are not the cause of these deaths. It is being caused by those who attack the government.

How can he compare human loss to the grass, what kind of animal...never mind..

 

 

Xubeer I think you should take few people with you... Or how about starting on some of the ones on SOL and in London. I'll arrange to meet them, you bring the weapon, you will have better chance of survival and achieving your goal here than if you run in straight there as you will not know who is who.

[Ibtisam]

When two elephants fight, the grass gets damaged. We are not the cause of these deaths. It is being caused by those who attack the government.

How can he compare human loss to the grass, what kind of animal...never mind..

 

 

Xubeer I think you should take few people with you... Or how about starting on some of the ones on SOL and in London. I'll arrange to meet them, you bring the weapon, you will have better chance of survival and achieving your goal here than if you run in straight there as you will not know who is who.

[Ibtisam]

When two elephants fight, the grass gets damaged. We are not the cause of these deaths. It is being caused by those who attack the government.

How can he compare human loss to the grass, what kind of animal...never mind..

 

 

Xubeer I think you should take few people with you... Or how about starting on some of the ones on SOL and in London. I'll arrange to meet them, you bring the weapon, you will have better chance of survival and achieving your goal here than if you run in straight there as you will not know who is who.

[-Nomadique-]

When two elephants fight, the grass gets damaged. We are not the cause of these deaths. It is being caused by those who attack the government.

He clearly hasn't understood the meaning of this proverb.

 

 

May Allah make it easier on them and may the criminals responsible for their hardship recieve their just desserts. I don't know how much more of this my heart can take.