September 15 2009, Nairobi, Mogadishu, refugee camps

By: Abdulkarim Mohamed Jimale

muxsin55@gmail.com

Will the resilience of the Somali people ever come to an end? This pressing issue comes to mind looking at the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in the worlds most infamous failed state.

More than two and half years ago, when US backed Ethiopian troops invaded the country, Somalia entered into a renewed phase of violence that saw countless people being displaced. The troops were in support of the Transitional Federal Government, led by former president Abdullahi Yusuf, who resigned in late 2008, and removed the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) from power.

According to estimates from the UNHCR more than 1.2 million Somalis were forced to flee from their homes ever since. This has resulted in an exodus to neighboring countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Djibouti.

The UN reported that the deadly and daily clashes between government forces and rebel groups have forced about one-quarter of a million Somalis to flee the capital Mogadishu since May 2009. The organization holds that most have sought refuge in the Afgoye corridor, some 30 kilometers west of Mogadishu. This area is now home to more than 534,000 internally displaced people.

Most of the internally displaced living in the camps in the outskirts of Mogadishu and across the country are women, children, elders and disabled people.

Conditions in the overcrowded camps are abject. There is a lack of practically everything, sanitation, medical facilities, clean water, sufficient food and shelter. A number of people simply live under trees, with no shelter from the sun. Cynically enough daily life here is much more expensive than in Somalia´s devastated capital.

"The situation is not good, in fact I am experiencing the worst time of my life and it is not getting any better", says Fatuma Mohamed Ali (34) on September 15 2009, a mother of six at a camp in Elasha Village, southwest of the city. "Two of my children were killed in a mortar attack that hit our house. We fled, I have no idea where to go to now. It seems every year things are getting worse."


Thousands of Somalis returned to their homes when Ethiopian troops left Somalia and president Sheik Sharif Ahmed was elected president at the beginning of 2009. Once again they were forced to flee when fighting erupted between Islamist militants and Somali government forces backed by AU-troops erupted early in May 2009. This also happened to be Fatuma´s fate, who´s husband was injured when mortars landed on their house a few hours past midnight.

"I had hopes for peace and that my children could go back to school, but these dreams were shattered when the fighting resumed."

Just like 3.2 million Somalis Fatuma and her children rely on food aid facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the last eighteen years, and perhaps the worst human tragedy in the world. Many of the displaced people receive only one meal a day.

In the same camp Raho Roble (34), also a mother of six, stands in front of her small makeshift tent. She carries a baby on her back, all skin and bone. "I fled the violence mid 2007", Raho, who´s husband had disappeared, says. "One day my son Mohamed (11) didn´t return form the madarasah [a Quran school], I was worried sick. It was early in the morning, yet the air was cool, when fighting between insurgents and Ethiopian troops erupted in our village", Raho recounts. "People were killed, dozens were wounded. That was the day I lost my son. Not knowing whether they are dead or alive, I still hope I will see my husband and son again."

The women in the camps live with fear of being raped. There were numerous accounts of rape last month. Hawo Aden, a resident of Ajuuran camp, one of the largest in Galkayo, told IRIN that in the past two months, eight women had been raped in her camp alone. "It is happening in every camp," she said.

-Hasan Osman in Mogadishu Contributed this report-