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Thousands of Somalis flee capital after fresh fighting this week – UN agency

Thousands of Somalis flee capital after fresh fighting this week – UN agency

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At least 12,000 civilian residents of Mogadishu have fled their homes in the Somali capital since last weekend because of a surge in fighting between Islamist insurgents and Government forces backed by the Ethiopian military, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

Half of the newly displaced have found shelter in different neighbourhoods within Mogadishu, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), while the remainder have escaped to the town of Afgooye, about 30 kilometres away.

Afgooye is already home to an estimated 350,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), mostly from Mogadishu, where the fighting between the Government forces and the Islamists has been particularly intense over the past year.

Catherine Weibel, a spokesperson for UNHCR, told UN Radio that many residents panicked as the shelling stepped up at the weekend and they left their homes to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Ms. Weibel said UNHCR and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the region expect that the number of displaced to keep rising as the fighting is continuing.

She added that humanitarian workers are finding it difficult to reach those in need and distribute aid because the city is so insecure.

The latest fighting is taking place despite the signing of a UN-brokered peace deal between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the rebel Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) in June that was supposed to end the armed clashes.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991, and the current fighting has combined with a drought in parts of the country to create a humanitarian crisis. At least 3 million people, or more than a third of the population, are now dependent on aid.

The efforts of the UN to deliver aid are often hampered by pirate attacks against aid ships off the coast of Somalia, prompting the naval forces of individual States – including France, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada – to provide escorts.

Today the World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed the decision by Canada to extend its naval escort mission by a further month, instead of ending this Saturday as originally slated.

“Make no mistake – Canada’s generous act of extending naval protection will allow us to get food in and will save lives,” WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement. “We urgently call on other nations to step up to the plate.”