Godffrey Olali
8 July 2009
Nairobi — The UNHCR has decried the massive displacement of civilians in Mogadishu.
According to the refugee agency, the current exodus of civilians from the troubled Horn of Africa country's capital is the biggest since the Ethiopian intervention in 2007.
A staggering 204,000 residents have reportedly fled their homes following renewed fighting between Al-Shabab and Hizb-ul-Islam militia and government forces.
"We are concerned in the way the fighting continues to affect civilians and create further displacement in an environment of total impunity," said the UNHCR Somalia representative, Mr Guillermo Bettocchi, in a statement.
The current conflict, the statement said, has now spread to the "islands of peace" situated in northern Mogadishu, where many residents are now fleeing their homes for the first time since the start of the bloody Somali civil war in 1991.
The ouster
The war was triggered by the ouster of President Siad Barre after the fall of Mogadishu.
Last week alone, UNHCR completed the distribution of 14,000 kits of blankets, plastic sheeting, kitchen sets, jerry cans and sanitary towels to the displaced in the Afgooye corridor and north-west Mogadishu.
The distribution covered some 45 sites and benefited some 13,000 vulnerable households.
According to the diplomat, the organisation also expects to distribute 4,000 additional kits to the IDPs this week.
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