SOMALIA:
Conditions getting worse for IDPs in Kismayo.
(Nairobi, June 18,
2008 Ceegaag Online)
Increasing insecurity,
hyperinflation and lack of adequate food have exacerbated
conditions for thousands of displaced families living in the
southern Somali port city of Kismayo, civil society sources
said.
"There are an estimated 35,000 IDPs in the city and they are
living in very precarious conditions," Mohamed Adan Dheel, a
civil society activist, told IRIN by phone from Kismayo, 500
km from the Somali capital of
Mogadishu.
"The IDPs [internally displaced persons] in Kismayo are of
three categories: those who fled the recent upsurge of
violence in
Mogadishu, those who were
displaced by fighting in Jammame [55 km north of Kismayo],
and the old ones from 1992," Dheel said on 17 June.
"There are others that can be classified as a fourth
[category]: the ones who returned from the Kenyan border
after failing to cross."
The IDPs, he added, were generally in poor health and lacked
access to basic services, clothing, sufficient food, and
shelter. "It is now very common in Kismayo to see a mother
and her children from
Mogadishu begging because they have no other choice," Dheel
added.
One of the IDPs, Asha Mohamed Yusuf, said she had spent 15
days in the town. "I left
Mogadishu after my husband and two children [aged six and
five years] were killed by a shell," the 35-year-old mother
of five told IRIN.
Yusuf and her other children survived the attack because
they were not at home. "My other children were in Koranic
school; my baby [18 months] and I were at the market," she
explained. "A neighbour came to tell me what happened. After
that I decided to take the rest to some place safe."
She was on the streets of Kismayo when good Samaritans
brought her and her children to a displaced camp and helped
her build a small shack. But the only help she got was some
food and clothing that the locals gave her.
Farhan Lafoole, a local journalist, told IRIN that in the
past many IDPs used to find work in the town to supplement
what little help they got, but because of insecurity and
inflation they could no longer find employment.
People who used to hire the IDPs can no longer afford them,
he said. At the same time, the price of one kilogram of
sugar has risen to 44,000 Somali shillings from 14,000 a
year ago; while one kilogram of rice is now 65,000
shillings, up from 6,000 a year ago.
The value of the shilling itself has more than halved; it is
now exchanging at 35,500 to the US dollar, down from 14,000
a year ago.
Many of the IDPs claim they survive on aid. For example, the
UN World Food Programme (WFP), among other agencies and
NGOs, has been feeding 10,000 in the town since August.
"The number increased in January to 16,000; the last
distribution in April was for 16,000 IDPs," said Abdi Jama,
information officer for WFP Somalia.
"WFP
is planning to continue feeding Kismayo IDPs until December
2008, up to a total number of 20,000 IDPs. We will also
target another 10,000 drought-affected [IDPs] in Kismayo
town," he added.
Persistent insecurity in Kismayo has, however, made it very
difficult for aid agencies to effectively help the displaced
and those who need assistance.
Since fighting between Ethiopian-backed Somali forces and
insurgents began in early 2007, about one million Somalis
have fled their homes. Another estimated 6,500 civilians
have been killed.
Aid workers estimate that 2.6 million Somalis need
assistance. That number is expected to reach 3.5 million by
the end of the year if the humanitarian situation does not
improve, according to the UN.
Source: Irin
News
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