UN agencies working to aid growing number of displaced Somalis

United Nations agencies are continuing to assist the growing number of Somalis – now estimated to be at least 70,000 – who have been uprooted by the recent surge in fighting in and around the capital, the world body’s humanitarian wing said today.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun distributing relief items, including plastic sheets, blankets and kitchen utensils, to some 50,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Afgooye corridor, a 30-kilometre stretch of ramshackle houses north-west of Mogadishu, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

At least 70,000 people have been newly displaced to the corridor since fresh fighting erupted between Government forces and rebel militias in Mogadishu on 8 May, according to UNHCR. Most of those displaced are in need of emergency shelter, sanitation and water.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and local partners are already serving some 250,000 IDPs in the Afgooye corridor with clean piped and trucked water. Additional water trucking is planned for 18,000 IDPs located in remote areas, OCHA said.

In addition, the World Food Programme (WFP) and a partner organization last week distributed 4,600 metric tons of assorted food commodities to around 333,900 beneficiaries in the corridor, including 80,000 cooked meals.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have begun a campaign to screen and treat women and children in the area. The two agencies and their local partners aim to reach at least 130,000 children under the age of five and 153,000 women of child-bearing age.

Also, the Government of Italy dispatched an emergency humanitarian flight carrying part of a 23-ton consignment of health care supplies into Mogadishu for distribution to five hospitals and other health institutions in the capital, OCHA said.