Mogadishu Is calm for first time in 15 days
Mahdi Haile
March 11, 2009
Lack of water, medicine raises fears of humanitarian crisis.
The Somali capital had its quietest night in the past 14 days Tuesday, with no sound of gunfire.
Late last month, Insurgency groups continued to battle government forces at the edges of Hodan and holwadag districts of Mogadishu, but fighting quieted as the government and elders negotiated ceasefire.
The humanitarian situation remains desperate due in part to the lack of drinking water for the past 14 days. Hospitals are overstretched, as are their workers, and no medicine is available.
It is impossible for any aid worker to venture through the city, observers said.
A Burundian AMISOM peacekeeping force was due to arrive in Mogadishu as soon as next two weeks to join a larger planned deployment of troops from the AU.
U.N. Secretary-General Banki Moon said last week that it was "absolutely essential" to accelerate the movement of peacekeepers. He said he was "deeply concerned at the dramatic deterioration of the situation" in Somalia. according to our sources "violence and lootings is down compared what was happening before." people in Mogadishu say the reason is more police and government forces have stationed most of police stations in Mogadishu. Mogadishu is has been calm in the last fourteen days.
The Somali capital had its quietest night in the past 14 days Tuesday, with no sound of gunfire.
Late last month, Insurgency groups continued to battle government forces at the edges of Hodan and holwadag districts of Mogadishu, but fighting quieted as the government and elders negotiated ceasefire.
The humanitarian situation remains desperate due in part to the lack of drinking water for the past 14 days. Hospitals are overstretched, as are their workers, and no medicine is available.
It is impossible for any aid worker to venture through the city, observers said.
A Burundian AMISOM peacekeeping force was due to arrive in Mogadishu as soon as next two weeks to join a larger planned deployment of troops from the AU.
U.N. Secretary-General Banki Moon said last week that it was "absolutely essential" to accelerate the movement of peacekeepers. He said he was "deeply concerned at the dramatic deterioration of the situation" in Somalia. according to our sources "violence and lootings is down compared what was happening before." people in Mogadishu say the reason is more police and government forces have stationed most of police stations in Mogadishu. Mogadishu is has been calm in the last fourteen days.
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