UN resumes aid operations for displaced Somalis

The UN refugee agency and its partners have resumed distribution of urgent aid supplies to thousands of Somalis fleeing a sixth day of heavy fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, UNHCR said its staff member in Afgooye, 30 km west of Mogadishu, resumed aid operations after a road linking the two areas had reopened on Monday, filled with a continuous flow of displaced people.

"Afgooye area was jammed with more than 41,000 displaced people, and hungry and thirsty crowds were becoming increasingly difficult to control,"the UNHCR said.

"Yesterday (Monday), we encountered many problems as there are so many displaced people in Afgooye that the crowds disturbed the lines, making it difficult to proceed with the distribution," said the UNHCR worker.

"After being closed several times over the past days, the road from Mogadishu to Afgooye was finally reopened to traffic this morning," he said.

More than 300 people have reportedly been killed and 700 wounded in the past five days. Many of those displaced were heading to Ceel Macaan in the east of the city, Bal'ad in the north, Dayniile in the west and Afgoye to the south.

Somali government officials have maintained that there would be not let up in the latest clashes until the Ethiopian-backed government crushed armed resistance by remnants of the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) who were ousted from Mogadishu in January.

"Civilians fleeing Mogadishu are arriving in a continuous flow as heavy fighting is going on in the capital. All of them report gloomy stories," UNHCR said.

"Many are traumatized because of relatives killed in the fighting, and some children are crying because they have been separated from their parents while fleeing and don't know how to find them."

UNHCR and its partners hoped to distribute aid items to about 6, 000 people on Monday, it said.

But many of the displaced lack food and there is a severe water shortage. About five Somali aid organizations are attempting to truck relief supplies to Afgooye each day from Mogadishu, but the frequent closure of the road had disrupted deliveries, the UN agency said.

It said about half a million people have fled Mogadishu, thousands seeking shelter under trees or sleeping in the open in nearby towns and villages.

According to UNHCR, more than 320,000 people have fled Mogadishu since February. Of these, about 111,000 people have headed to the nearby Shabelle provinces, 109,000 people to Galgadud region, 24, 000 to Hiran and another 14,000 elsewhere.

Already weakened by hunger and thirst, the displaced urgently require shelter material for protection against rain and cold nights, it said.

"Maybe it would be better to go back to Mogadishu rather than have my children stay out in the rain where they can get terribly sick", a mother of eight told one aid worker. But the situation in the city is getting worse day after day, so going back is not really an option.

The warfare devastating Mogadishu began late last year when Somalia's transitional government called for Ethiopian troops to help chase away the Supreme Council Islamic Courts (SCIC). Since Somalia's civil war broke out in 1991, militias loyal to clan and sub-clan-based factions have controlled different parts of the country, with no central authority to provide law and order or basic services to the population.

Source: Xinhua