Exodus escalates in war-torn Mogadishu :He and other interna
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:35 am
Exodus escalates in war-torn Mogadishu :He and other internal refugees who had reached Somaliland
Thousands of Somalis are fleeing violence in Mogadishu on foot or by donkey, car or truck in an exodus that is massive even by the standards of a city that has become a byword for war.
But once away from the bullets and missiles of Mogadishu, the Somalis have to contend with thieves, hunger, thirst and lack of shelter, aid agencies and refugees said yesterday.
"I saw a young man taken out of a truck and killed in front of the passengers," said Imam Abukar Abdi Ibrahim, a clan elder from Mogadishu, after reaching the relative safety of Somaliland, a self-declared independent region.
He and other internal refugees who had reached Somaliland in north-west Somalia recounted how thieves were preying on those fleeing Mogadishu, stripping them of money and the few goods they had brought out with them.
"Some were robbed of their cars and had to walk for kilometres," Ibrahim said in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.
The United Nations sounded the alarm over the refugee situation yesterday, saying 47 000 had fled Mogadishu in the past 10 days and were living in appalling conditions.
Most had gone to the Lower Shabelle region south of Mogadishu, UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
"With internally displaced people begging on the streets, sleeping without shade and suffering from diarrhoea, people are forced to make their way further and further from Mogadishu, due to dwindling resources and deteriorating conditions," it said.
Due to the crowds trying to get out of Mogadishu, people were taking up to four hours to get on the road, UNHCR said.
In total, about 96 000 people have left Mogadishu since February in the latest of the periodic mass exoduses from the capital during its last 15 years of anarchy.
Mogadishu, home to at least 1-million people, was at its calmest when Islamists ran the city for six months last year. But the takeover by the Ethiopian-backed Somali government - and an ensuing insurgency - have rocked the city again.
Hundreds are believed to have died in fighting since Thursday, the worst since a war over New Year to oust the Islamists, residents say. Entire blocks have been engulfed in smoke and rubble.
A lull in fighting yesterday was only encouraging the exodus, residents said, as those who had been trapped in neighbourhoods under siege took the chance to flee.
Since last week's upsurge in fighting, reporters have seen long queues of people pouring out of the capital, some on foot, others piling possessions onto donkeys, trucks and cars.
"I left Mogadishu after my husband and elder son died in a bomb explosion on our home. What I could take from my house was very little," said Asha Muddey, an elderly woman with two children who had reached Hargeisa.
"I thank God that I and two of my children are safe."
Many, however, remained trapped.
"UNHCR local partners … report that some civilians are unable to flee for fear of mortar shelling in the street, and that child soldiers are among the growing number of fighters within the warring parties," the refugee agency said. - Reuters
Source Thet Star.
Thousands of Somalis are fleeing violence in Mogadishu on foot or by donkey, car or truck in an exodus that is massive even by the standards of a city that has become a byword for war.
But once away from the bullets and missiles of Mogadishu, the Somalis have to contend with thieves, hunger, thirst and lack of shelter, aid agencies and refugees said yesterday.
"I saw a young man taken out of a truck and killed in front of the passengers," said Imam Abukar Abdi Ibrahim, a clan elder from Mogadishu, after reaching the relative safety of Somaliland, a self-declared independent region.
He and other internal refugees who had reached Somaliland in north-west Somalia recounted how thieves were preying on those fleeing Mogadishu, stripping them of money and the few goods they had brought out with them.
"Some were robbed of their cars and had to walk for kilometres," Ibrahim said in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.
The United Nations sounded the alarm over the refugee situation yesterday, saying 47 000 had fled Mogadishu in the past 10 days and were living in appalling conditions.
Most had gone to the Lower Shabelle region south of Mogadishu, UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
"With internally displaced people begging on the streets, sleeping without shade and suffering from diarrhoea, people are forced to make their way further and further from Mogadishu, due to dwindling resources and deteriorating conditions," it said.
Due to the crowds trying to get out of Mogadishu, people were taking up to four hours to get on the road, UNHCR said.
In total, about 96 000 people have left Mogadishu since February in the latest of the periodic mass exoduses from the capital during its last 15 years of anarchy.
Mogadishu, home to at least 1-million people, was at its calmest when Islamists ran the city for six months last year. But the takeover by the Ethiopian-backed Somali government - and an ensuing insurgency - have rocked the city again.
Hundreds are believed to have died in fighting since Thursday, the worst since a war over New Year to oust the Islamists, residents say. Entire blocks have been engulfed in smoke and rubble.
A lull in fighting yesterday was only encouraging the exodus, residents said, as those who had been trapped in neighbourhoods under siege took the chance to flee.
Since last week's upsurge in fighting, reporters have seen long queues of people pouring out of the capital, some on foot, others piling possessions onto donkeys, trucks and cars.
"I left Mogadishu after my husband and elder son died in a bomb explosion on our home. What I could take from my house was very little," said Asha Muddey, an elderly woman with two children who had reached Hargeisa.
"I thank God that I and two of my children are safe."
Many, however, remained trapped.
"UNHCR local partners … report that some civilians are unable to flee for fear of mortar shelling in the street, and that child soldiers are among the growing number of fighters within the warring parties," the refugee agency said. - Reuters
Source Thet Star.
Somaliland welcomes our brothers and sisters from Xamar