Aid agencies in Somalia are scaling up their efforts to assist some 15,000 people uprooted by the recent fighting in Mogadishu, which has reportedly killed 80 civilians and wounded hundreds more and is some of the worst violence to hit the Somali capital in over a year and a half, the United Nations said here on Friday.
Those fleeing the fresh clashes this week between Islamic insurgents and government forces bring the total number of people uprooted so far this year in Mogadishu to 160,000, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"This week's fighting in Mogadishu, described by witnesses as the worst since the beginning of the latest insurgency in February2007, has forced at least 15,000 people from their homes," UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.
UNHCR, which is working to provide shelter materials for those that have fled, reported that almost half of the newly displaced have moved to safer parts of Mogadishu, while most of the others fled west towards the Somali town of Afgooye, an area already jammed with an estimated 350,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Despite the insecurity in the capital of the strife-torn nation, humanitarian agencies are scaling up their response to assist those affected.
"We are managing to get aid to those who desperately need it. We have stepped up response for those who have been uprooted by the violence in the past few days and there is no break in ongoing assistance programs," said the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mark Bowden.
Those displaced since the weekend are receiving food aid along the Afgooye corridor and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is currently transporting more food to the outskirts of Mogadishu. Health facilities in the capital have also been supplied with drugs and supplies.
In addition, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its partners will distribute non-food items to 8,000 families in need. The agency also plans to continue the ongoing blanket supplementary feeding program for 10,000 children under five in and around Mogadishu and the surrounding IDP camps.
The latest crisis comes as the Horn of Africa nation, which has not had a functioning government since 1991, is grappling with an already dire humanitarian situation owing to a combination of conflict and drought.
Some 3.2 million people in Somalia, or around 43 percent of the population, are in urgent need of food and other humanitarian assistance.
Source:Xinhua
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