Somalia's Internal Refugee Population Grows Dramatically
Media Line News Agency
October 10, 2008
At least 17 people were killed on Monday during an attack by Islamic insurgents on a market in Mogadishu, after the insurgents failed to capture the presidential palace in the city. The increasing violence in the Somali capital in recent weeks has displaced approximately 37,000 people, swelling an internal refugee population of over one million.
A joint statement by 52 non-governmental organizations has expressed concern about the "devastating humanitarian crisis" and "horrendous violence" in Somalia. A bloody civil war has been raging in Somalia for almost two decades. In early 2006, an Islamic umbrella organization called the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), gained control over the country, only to be ousted a year later by a combined effort of the Ethiopian and Somali armies.
Since January 2007, the Shabab – a military group affiliated with the SCIC – has been fighting to regain control of Somalia. "Nearly half of Somalia's population, or 3.25 million people, are now in need of emergency aid. This is a 77-percent increase since the beginning of 2008," the NGO's statement added.
But violence is not the only cause behind the growing numbers of internally displaced people. Floods and draughts are also contributing. The weekend floods of the Shabelle River in the southern region of Somalia forced over 700 families out of their homes in the riverside villages around the town of Janale, a few dozen miles south of Mogadishu.
"The people around Janala… were left homeless and lacked food, water and medicine," Janale Mayor Ibrahim Jabril Kulow told the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
A joint statement by 52 non-governmental organizations has expressed concern about the "devastating humanitarian crisis" and "horrendous violence" in Somalia. A bloody civil war has been raging in Somalia for almost two decades. In early 2006, an Islamic umbrella organization called the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), gained control over the country, only to be ousted a year later by a combined effort of the Ethiopian and Somali armies.
Since January 2007, the Shabab – a military group affiliated with the SCIC – has been fighting to regain control of Somalia. "Nearly half of Somalia's population, or 3.25 million people, are now in need of emergency aid. This is a 77-percent increase since the beginning of 2008," the NGO's statement added.
But violence is not the only cause behind the growing numbers of internally displaced people. Floods and draughts are also contributing. The weekend floods of the Shabelle River in the southern region of Somalia forced over 700 families out of their homes in the riverside villages around the town of Janale, a few dozen miles south of Mogadishu.
"The people around Janala… were left homeless and lacked food, water and medicine," Janale Mayor Ibrahim Jabril Kulow told the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
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