60,000 Somalis displaced by recent fighting in 2010 alone:

[General Duke]

60,000 Somalis displaced by recent fighting

 

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

 

Civilian casualties in Somalia are on the rise after government faces battled Islamist insurgents in the impoverished and war-torn country, a United Nations official said.

 

Fighting in the first few weeks of the year displaced more than 63,000 people, said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman in Geneva for the UN's Refugee Agency.

 

"Somalia continues to be one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world," Fleming said, noting that 1.5 million people were internally displaced and over half a million have fled to neighbouring countries.

 

 

 

The pro-government Ahlu Suna Waljama group had been battling insurgent group Hizbul Islam in the town of Beledweyene. Nearby, more fighting has been waged against Hizbul Islam ally al-Shabaab - which the West says has close links to al-Qaeda.

 

 

 

Both insurgent groups are fighting to topple the weak Western- backed government.

 

 

 

 

A doctor from the African Union peacekeeping force checks a sick child at their outpatient department in Mogadishu

Photograph by: Mohamed Sheikh Nor

Credit: AP

Some 150 people, including civilians were reportedly killed in the area.

 

 

 

The displaced people were "in urgent need of shelter, water and health care," said Fleming.

 

 

 

UN special envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah recently said the conflict in the Horn of Africa nation was a global problem that "can no longer be ignored."

 

 

 

Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

 

Over 19,000 people have died in the current insurgency, which kicked off in early 2007 after Ethiopian forces invaded to oust an Islamist regime that ruled for six months in 2006.

 

 

Source: dpa