Somalia: 40,000 return despite heavy clashes

  1. Posted on Saturday 28 February 2009 - 05:12
    accreporter
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    Kent Mensah, AfricaNews editor, Accra, Ghana Photo: Mohammed Odowa
    Over 40,000 internally displaced persons have returned to Mogadishu in the last six weeks. The majority of the returnees are from Hiraan, Mudug, Galgaduud, Lower and Middle Shabelle in the southern and central regions, which are experiencing a combination of renewed conflict and severe drought.
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    According to a release from the UN refugee agency – UNHCR – on Friday to AfricaNews, many IDPs are returning as complete families but others are heads of households who have left their relatives behind in the settlements for internally displaced while they check the conditions of their properties.

    The release added: “They are returning to Hodan, Wardhiigleey, Yaaqshiid and Heliwaa neighbourhoods in north Mogadishu that were devastated by two years of war and left virtually empty. The displaced have lost everything and are returning to ruined homes and livelihoods.”

    The latest returns are taking place at a time when Mogadishu is experiencing some of the heaviest fighting in recent months, resulting in many civilian causalities and renewed displacement, the release said. The UNHCR stated that it is in the “process of assessing the scale and magnitude of the latest displacement.”

    However, the UNHCR said it would not encourage people to return to Mogadishu now because “the security situation is volatile and the conditions are certainly not conducive.” The agency noted that access to basic services in Mogadishu is limited, with very few international agencies present on the ground because of insecurity.

    “Nevertheless, we are preparing to help returnees or those who wish to return in the near future, in the hope that the security situation will improve,” the release added.

    The total number of Somalis displaced within their own country is a staggering 1.3 million. Last year alone, some 100,000 Somalis sought refuge in the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen. The number of Somali refugees in asylum countries now stands at 438,000.

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