Massive Violence Sends More IDPs Into Kismayo

By Kylie Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

 (Source: IRIN)

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Since fighting began, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing Mogadishu has risen to more than 200,000.

Fighting broke out between the Somali government and Islamist rebel groups Al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam in May.  The rebel groups want a stricter form of Islam than the President is willing to install.

In the eight weeks since fighting began, the country has seen the largest evacuation from the capital city since 2007.  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates the number to be somewhere around 204,000.

"We are concerned about the way the fighting continues to affect civilians and create further displacement in an environment of total impunity," said UNHCR Representative to Somalia Guillermo Bettocchi.

Somalia's civil war began in 1991.  Of a total population of 9 million, 1.2 million have been displaced.  Many of the 204,000 Mogadishu residents who have fled in the past eight weeks are fleeing for the first time.

 (Source: UNHCR)

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said, “The escalating conflict in Mogadishu is having a devastating impact on the city’s population, causing enormous suffering and massive displacement."

While the Somali-Kenya border is officially closed, the Dabaab refugee camp population continues to rise.

The southern coastal city of Kismayo is also seeing an influx of refugees.  The influx is causing sharp deterioration of living conditions for the thousands already living there.

"There are about 29,000 of us [IDPs] in Kismayo and we are living in very bad conditions; no one is helping us," said Mahamud Ali, an elder living there.  "People are in a desperate situation."

No aid agencies are currently operating in Kismayo.  Six months ago the UN World Food Programme offered aid in Kismayo but four employees were killed earlier this year, prompting the agency to refrain from going back into the region until authorities offer security commitments.

For the first time in 17 years, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) was forced to close a pediatric hospital and three health clinics in north Mogadishu because of the violence.  It continued to operate even after staff had been kidnapped and killed but delivering health care to desperate Somalis has become too difficult.

In the past week, 105 more have been killed and 382 injured.

For more information, please see:

AFP - Over 200,000 Flee Mogadishu Fighting: UNHCR - 07 July 2009

AP - UN: Over 200,000 Somalis Flee Fighting Since May - 07 July 2009

CNN - UN: Fighting in Somalia's Capital Sparks Massive Refugee Exodus - 07 July 2009

IRIN - Somalia: Conditions Worsen as More IDPs Flood Into Kismayo - 07 July 2009

UNHCR - Number of Mogadishu Civilians Displaced by Fighting Since Early May Tops 200,000 - 07 July 2009

UN News Centre - Number of Somalis Uprooted by Violence in Capital Tops 200,000 - 07 July 2009