Somali overtakes Iraq in Mass exodus of People

[Ana_Juwa2]

Somalia is 'worst refugee crisis'

 

The UN said displacement in Somalia was worse than in Iraq

 

More people have been displaced in Somalia in the past two months than anywhere else in the world, the United Nations has said.

Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for UN relief coordinator John Holmes, said at least 350,000 people had fled fighting in Mogadishu since February.

 

There is also concern for those trapped in the city, where more than 600 have died from acute diarrhoea and cholera.

 

A BBC correspondent says gunfire has stopped for the first time in 10 days.

 

AFP news agency is reporting that Ethiopians and government troops are moving house-to-house in northern districts arresting suspected insurgents.

 

All men are fleeing from the houses because the Ethiopian forces are arresting them

 

Shamso Nur

Mogadishu resident

 

However, the city's Coca-Cola factory, opened in 2004, was looted overnight by gunmen in 12 trucks.

 

"Our offices were broken into and all computers looted. We had supplies of sugar that were supposed to last the whole year - they were also looted," manager Bashir Mohamed Araye told Reuters news agency.

 

On Thursday, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi said his forces were in control of the capital and the worst of the fighting was now over.

 

Bureaucracy charge

 

The BBC's Farhia Ali says the sound of mortars and shelling had stopped on Friday morning.

 

 

UNHCR map shows where thousands have fled to from Somalia's capital Mogadishu

 

 

Enlarge Map

 

 

People were venturing down to the central Bakara market area to check on their businesses and to see if the buildings were still standing, she said.

 

Meanwhile, there are reports that insurgents are leaving northern districts, captured by Ethiopian troops on Thursday.

 

"All men are fleeing from the houses because the Ethiopian forces are arresting them," Shamso Nur told AFP.

 

Another witness said that bodies were being collected from the streets for burial.

 

The UN had requested that fighting ceased so that aid could be brought in.

 

Aid is ready and waiting to be delivered to the city, but it cannot be brought in while the fighting is still going on, it says.

 

'Charged for shade'

 

Ms Bunker said displacements in Somali had topped those in Iraq, Darfur and Sri Lanka.

 

"If you look at the situation from February until now, in that one timeframe, more people have been displaced inside Somalia than any place else in the world," she told the BBC.

 

Clan divisions behind violence

 

"We are very concerned about the people who have had to flee their homes because of the fighting, but we are also very concerned about those who are still trapped inside the city of Mogadishu."

 

Earlier Mr Holmes said aid was reaching just 60,000 people. Some 300 people have been killed in the recent clashes, after 1,000 deaths last month, local human rights group say.

 

The UN refugee agency reports that people are continuing to flee Mogadishu, for the nearby town of Afgooye.

 

It says that armed robbers are roaming the town, where shop-owners are charging extortionate prices.

 

The UNHCR has also been told that land-owners are charging refugees to sit under the shade of their trees on the road from Mogadishu.

 

The Union of Islamic Courts controlled Mogadishu for six months last year - reuniting the capital for the first time since 1991.

 

They were toppled last December by Ethiopia-backed government forces.

 

The Islamist fighters have been joined by gunmen from the ****** clan, which does not back the government.

 

Somalia has not had a functional government since 1991.

 

Peace talks led to the formation of a transitional government in 2004, but it has so far failed to take full control of the country.

 

Ethiopian troops announced they had begun to withdraw, to be replaced by an African Union peacekeeping force, but only 1,200 of the 8,000 troops the AU says it needs have been deployed.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6598361.stm

[Xoogsade]

"All men are fleeing from the houses because the Ethiopian forces are arresting them "

 

 

They should have left town long ago or fought to death, cause, given Xabashi record on treatment of people it occupies their towns, they round up men at will and execute them. Welcome to Kilinka Lixaad for real where some somalis act as jaajuus while the rest are target practice.

[me]

It is a sad event and I am ashamed that this is happening and all I am doing is read about it.

 

Why are we in this position, that Somali men have to flee for Ethiopians in Xamar? and what should we do about it?

 

If I could do anything alone, I would have a long time ago, but we are here with how many people on SOL and what do we do?

 

I mean we finally got a cause worth fighting for, we finally got a chance to forget about our differences and what do we do? Nothing, same old BS, we have been doing for the past 16 years.

[Peacenow]

Me, Positive point, is that I have never seen Somalis as angry as they are right now. We can all agree that, that it has somewhat unified us. I would like to see traction by the Asmara group, the idea of a government in exile.

 

If you really want to do something right now, then message every journalist that you can. If you leave in the west, get in touch with your MP. Better yet, visit them, hound them with information, that is clear, coherent and biting. Visit the thread by Paragon on the PR Campaign. Lots you can do.

[Ana_Juwa2]

We have won the fighting against the insurgents," said Ali Mohammed Gedi, the prime minister. "The worst of the fighting in the city is now over."

 

He added: "We have captured the stronghold of the terrorists. We will capture any terrorists who have escaped."

 

Yet gunfire and heavy artillery could still be heard in northern Mogadishu. President Abdullahi Yusuf's regime is entirely dependent on military support from neighbouring Ethiopia.

 

He was installed in the capital by the Ethiopian army, which captured Mogadishu almost unopposed in December and ousted a radical Islamic regime.

About 350 people are known to have been killed and large areas destroyed by heavy artillery. "We face a very critical and dangerous situation where the rules of international humanitarian law are being flouted by all sides," said Sir John Holmes, the United Nations under-secretary for humanitarian affairs.

 

Speaking in Geneva, he estimated that as many as 400,000 people may have been forced to flee Mogadishu. Most of them are now beyond the reach of aid workers.

 

Ethiopian forces and the regime's militias have disrupted the flow of emergency supplies. But they have recently agreed to allow the aid operation to work unhindered.

 

Source: Telegraph

 

Were are those who claimed that this was merely a few neirbough hoods that were fighting, and that it didnt effect that many people?

 

what happens now?

 

Ethopians Arresting people, on what basis who dont know, other than the governments assertion that they are terrorists.

 

400,000 is now quoted as the number of people displayed and made into internal refugees.

 

Ethopian forces are hindering aid efforts why?

 

Even just mentioning these three issues, the probably likely hood of an on-going insurgency, and more intereferences from the americans and ethopians, who in here can genuinely, and not deludedly point to any hope for the immediate future of any reconciliation process?

 

If you can please state how and why.

[Paragon]

Originally posted by me:

It is a sad event and I am ashamed that this is happening and all I am doing is read about it.

 

Why are we in this position, that Somali men have to flee for Ethiopians in Xamar? and what should we do about it?

 

If I could do anything alone, I would have a long time ago, but we are here with how many people on SOL and what do we do?

 

I mean we finally got a cause worth fighting for, we finally got a chance to forget about our differences and what do we do? Nothing, same old BS, we have been doing for the past 16 years.

I hear you. I hear you.

[A.J.]

That is actually considered a succes by the TFG so i expect their supporters to be jumping here anytime DECLARING VICTORY