UN: Displaced Somalis affected by poverty and violence

from AKI
Geneva, 6 Nov. (AKI) - Displaced Somalis who have fled fighting in Mogadishu are suffering from malnutrition, poverty and violence, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In a statement released on Tuesday the UNHCR said people were experiencing "extremely harsh conditions" with reports of malnutrition and rape.

The UNHCR conducted an evaluation of the country with other aid agencies and found that facilities in Afgooye, a small town west of the Somali capital, was struggling to absorb swelling populations with scant resources.

"Entire families are now crammed into tiny huts," said UNHCR spokesman William Spindler in Geneva.

Spindler said hygiene was poor in the crowded settlements raising fears of an outbreak of cholera. He also expressed concern about young children, after the UN team visited a therapeutic feeding centre, where they found "some 50 malnourished children, some of them too weak to cry."

He said leaders in some of the settlements also reported several cases of rape and called for improved security and protection.

He said during the past week, 15 new makeshift settlements had been created along the road between Mogadishu and Afgooye, bringing to 50 the total number of spontaneous camps lining the route.

The UNHCR says renewed fighting between insurgents and Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu nearly a week ago has displaced an estimated 90,000 people -more than half of them to Afgooye - while another 17,000 people had moved to safer neighbourhoods in the capital.

"The UN inter-agency team found that in one settlement near Afgooye, the 13,000 people living there for the last few months had been joined last week by another 7,000 displaced Somalis," said Spindler.

Another site with 10,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) received 2,000 more over the past week, he added.

The agency is warning that some of the basic infrastructure set up in settlements in and around Afgooye can no longer meet the needs of the large numbers of new refugees.

Spindler said that water distribution systems need to be expanded and health centres need to be strengthened to cope with the spike in the population in and around Afgooye.

Despite a lull in fighting in the past week, sporadic gun battles have been reported. There are also reports of Ethiopian troop reinforcements being deployed in Mogadishu, according to the agency, which has already distributed aid to 78,000 people in Afgooye this year.