Mogadishu fighting cuts food supplies

NAIROBI, 30 August 2010 (IRIN) - As the latest round of fighting in the Somali capital enters its eighth day, traders and civil society activists warn of food shortages due to the closure of many businesses and markets across the city, increasing pressure on the already food-insecure population.

Residents in parts of Mogadishu are trapped and unable to access food supplies and services, civil society sources said on 30 August.

"Many people, particularly in the north of the city and parts of the south, where the fighting has been heaviest, have been stuck in their homes for the past eight days; they have run out of food, water and other essentials and have no access to any help," Asha Sha'ur, a civil society activist, told IRIN.

The areas most affected are Hodan, Hawlwadaag, Wardhigley (south Mogadishu) and Cabdicasiis, Shibis and Boondheere districts (north Mogadishu).

"Even those with money are unable to go out and buy what they need because of the constant shelling. They have little choice except to wait and hope that the violence around them ceases."

However, the majority affected are poor people who buy what they need on a daily basis: "They don't have the means to buy in bulk and store at home." She warned that without a respite, many people "will simply die in their homes".

Trapped

Mahamud Haji, a resident of Siigaale area, Hodan district, one of the most contested areas, told IRIN that he and his neighbours had been prisoners in their homes for eight days. "Even the ambulances could not reach us. Some of those wounded died because we could not get them to hospital," he said. He said they were restricting themselves to one meal a day.

Ali Mohamed Siyad, chairman of Mogadishu's Bakara market traders, told IRIN the current fighting had been among the worst the city had seen, forcing many people to close their businesses.

"We cannot get food from the port into the market and we cannot provide the retailers in the neighbourhoods. What is happening is taking a heavy toll on those who depend on the markets for a living and those who depend on them for food," he said. "It would not surprise me if people have already run out of food."

Displaced and desperate

In recent months, Mogadishu has been a battleground for troops loyal to the government of the western-backed President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, with the African Union force, and armed opposition groups, chief among them Al-Shabab, which now controls much of the south and centre of the country.

A local journalist told IRIN the current fighting was the worst the city had seen since May 2009, when Islamist insurgents mounted an offensive aimed at overthrowing the government. That offensive displaced more than 100,000 people.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), since 5 July some 36,000 people have been displaced.

"About 15,700 have been displaced within the city, while 20,400 managed to leave the city," said Roberta Russo, UNHCR-Somalia spokeswoman.

"The level of despair of the innocent men, women and children living in Mogadishu is extreme. Most of the people remaining there simply don't have the means to escape from what they describe as hell."

She said women who managed to flee the city "told me that many don't even have the means to bring their loved ones wounded by the fighting to hospital, nor to bury them once they die".

Injuries increase

Medical sources told IRIN the number of injured seeking help was growing daily.

Ali Muse, who runs the city's ambulance service, told IRIN his teams had collected 69 bodies and more than 213 wounded from various parts of the city in the past seven days. Almost all were civilians.

"We are receiving many families, including very small children," said Mohamed Yusuf, director-general of Madina Hospital, adding that most of the injuries were shrapnel wounds.

He said the hospital had sufficient drugs to deal with the influx but manpower and fuel were increasingly becoming a problem.

Yusuf said he had been working for more than seven days with little or no rest. He said the generators powering the hospital were working 24 hours a day "and we are very short of fuel. If we don't get enough fuel we may not be able to help those who need surgery."

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Corpses litter streets amid Mogadishu fighting

NAIROBI, 24 August 2010 (IRIN) - Deadly clashes between Islamist insurgents and African Union-backed government forces cut off many parts of Mogadishu on 24 August, when dozens of people, including several MPs, were killed during an attack on a downtown hotel.

"There is not one area [of the capital] that is safe today," said a civil society worker who asked not to be identified because she feared for her safety.

"We are getting reports of dead bodies on most major roads in the city," she said, adding that the intensity of the fighting, which broke out on 23 August, meant the corpses were not being collected.

"They are determined to kill what is left of this city," she added, referring to the warring parties.

"Who will they rule if we are all dead? Whoever wins will rule corpses," she said.

Ali Muse, who runs the city's ambulance service, told IRIN his teams had collected 34 bodies and more than 131 injured from various streets.

"There are areas we could not reach, so I am sure the numbers will go up once we are able to reach all parts," he said.

A trader in Bakara market, the biggest in the country, said: "Since 3pm yesterday [23 August] we have not had a break from the shelling. As I am speaking to you two shells landed nearby."

She did not say who had shelled whom but deadly exchanges of mortar fire [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89905] between al-Shabab insurgents and troops of the 6,000-strong AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) are frequent in the city.

"We had no warning; they just started shelling when the market was full of people buying stuff to break the [Ramadan] fast," she said.

"I don't know what I will do if we run out of food. We cannot go anywhere."

In many areas of the city, people were unable to access their homes or businesses.

"There are people stuck where they were yesterday," a local journalist told IRIN.

"It is extremely dangerous to go out or even stay in. It feels as if the whole city is on fire. People are really trapped," he said.

Echoing several other sources in Mogadishu, the journalist said neither side had made any territorial gains during the fighting.

Al-Shabab says it is fighting to topple the country's transitional government and remove the "invaders", meaning AMISOM, which for its part recently stepped up operations against the insurgents.

"The only gains they are making is killing more civilians and creating more misery for the residents," the journalist said.

"The shelling is constant and indiscriminate. It is almost as if they [warring sides] have no target and the aim is to show the other side that you can also lob a shell."

Witnesses said the attack on the Muna Hotel in the Hamarweyne district was carried out by two men in military uniform. "They opened fire on anyone that moved," said a witness, and once their ammunition ran out, one of the fighters blew himself up.

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[END]

Good rains hardly make a dent in numbers needing help

NAIROBI, 24 August 2010 (IRIN) - Two million Somalis, an estimated 27 percent of the total population, still need emergency and livelihood assistance, despite above-average seasonal rains boosting livestock farming and creating a bumper harvest of maize and sorghum, says a study by the Nairobi-based Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Union (FSNAU) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"Despite improvements in food production generating a drop of 25 percent [in the numbers needing assistance] compared to six months ago, if the next rainy season is poor, the numbers are likely to rise again," said Graine Moloney, FSNAU's chief technical adviser.

"We need to increase the resilience of the local population through projects aimed at boosting small farmers' output, improving their market access and incomes, as well as rebuilding essential irrigation infrastructure and improving integrated pest management and storage techniques."

A prolonged drought in 2009 damaged crops and killed livestock, leaving 7.5 million people in Somalia needing aid. This year, the first, or "gu" rainy season started in February, two months earlier than usual, and reduced the need for relief efforts in the agriculture and livestock sectors. Since the beginning of the year, rainfall estimate data indicates exceptional rainfall compared with the average in Southern regions and in the Northwest.

The FSNAU study reports good production in most cereal-producing districts of Shabelle and Bay regions, both in Southern Somalia, with improved output of sorghum in the northwestern areas of Hargeisa and Borama, and of maize in the southern districts of Jamaame and Afmadow.

"Pasture conditions have generally improved throughout Somalia, particularly in the north, but it will take many years of good rains for pastoralists to recover from droughts of previous years," Moloney told IRIN.

FSNAU data indicates that general local cereal prices are likely to come down by September while access to milk has increased in the past six months, particularly in the south, where prices fell.

"The situation is still worrisome in the south-central Hiran region, one of the most insecure areas in the country," Moloney noted.

The Hiran region has an estimated 51,150 displaced people, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and is inaccessible to humanitarian agencies. FSNAU reports that 205,000 people - about 62 percent - of the total population need assistance. This represents a decline in the overall number of people in crisis in the region, with FSNAU reporting an estimated 80 percent of the population needing food aid six months ago.

According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), although Somalia's nutrition situation has improved in the north, 90 percent - an estimated 35,000 - of Somalia's severely malnourished children are concentrated in the insecure south-central region.

With one in six children acutely malnourished and one in 22 severely malnourished in the area, the situation still remains one of the worst in the world, said Luca Alinovi, FAO Somalia's newly appointed officer in charge.

cp/am/mw[END]

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EHA weekly highlights, 14 - 20 Aug 2010

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

Date: 20 Aug 2010

 Full_report (pdf* format - 93.4 Kbytes)

Update on major public health concern:

- Cholera/Acute watery diarrhea

WHO has observed a steady decrease in the number of cholera cases reported from Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu in the past five weeks (see Graph 1). The situation is being closely monitored by WHO and partners, with preventive and case management interventions ongoing in the region.

In week 321, the number of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) cases reported from Lower Shabelle region remained stable compared to week 31. Merka and Afgooye districts accounted for 80% of all cases reported from 34 health facilities in the region; from week 1-32, the two districts accounted for 49% and 33% respectively of all AWD cases reported. (see Graph 2).

WHO continues to call on health partners to respond to the current situation, in light of seasonal outbreaks in the past years (see Graph 3).

Fasting month brings more fear, costlier food

NAIROBI, 12 August 2010 (IRIN) - With the start of Ramadan - the Islamic holy month characterized by fasting - residents of Mogadishu are facing a difficult economic situation as well as the prospect of more fighting and shelling, say civil society sources.

"The economic situation in which most residents find themselves is appalling," a civil society activist, who requested anonymity, told IRIN on 12 August. "Many cannot afford to buy the basic necessities, but the biggest factor this Ramadan is fear as it has become normal practice for the warring parties to increase fighting during Ramadan."

The upsurge in fighting between government troops and Islamist insurgents makes it "nearly impossible for most people to go out", he said, adding that most of those affected were people who could cope the least. "These are the daily labourers, the women who have to clean homes or businesses or the men doing odd jobs."

He said the prices of basic foods had gone up by 30 percent since last week and may rise even more.

He appealed to Somalis in the diaspora to increase their support this month: "If you were supporting one family, add one more this month. They have no one else."

Already, he said, the fighting had rendered many areas of the city inaccessible to those who could help affected families.

Safety first

Asho Abdi, a mother of six in the Somali capital, said prices of food and other commodities had gone up in the markets, limiting her purchasing power.

"Our income can only go so far and these traders don't care," she said.

However, Abdi's main worry was safety. "Every time I go to the market I don't know whether I will return to my children; I have to tell them who to call and what to do if I don't return," she said. "That is every day. That is our life. I wish they would stop fighting at least for this month and give us some relief."

She said both the government and the insurgents claimed to be Muslims but "we are also Muslims, please spare us".

Supply squeeze

Fadumo*, a trader in the city, told IRIN the reason prices were rising was limited supplies.

"Many of the big traders have left and those who remain are not bringing in goods because of the difficulties of dealing with different groups," she said. Sugar, oil and flour "have risen up to 30 per cent but rice and other items rose about 20 percent not more".

She added that both the government and insurgents wanted to apply a tax and "even after you have gone through this your goods are not safe from their bombardments. Who wants to invest in this?"

For years now, Mogadishu has been the battleground between troops loyal to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by African Union peacekeepers, and two Islamist insurgent groups, one being Al-Shabab, which now controls much of south and central Somalia.

Fadumo urged the parties to the conflict to call a ceasefire, "at least through the holy month of Ramadan, so people can worship in peace".

However, the activist said he saw no chance of that. "The insurgents think that if they don't continue fighting the government will view it as a weakness or it will allow government forces to organize," the source said.

The government, for its part, feels it has to defend itself from the insurgents and push back, he said, adding that "it is a vicious cycle and the population is the main loser even during Ramadan".

*Not her real name

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Ban on aid agencies condemned

NAIROBI, 10 August 2010 (IRIN) - Government officials, aid beneficiaries and humanitarian workers in south-central Somalia have condemned a ban imposed on three aid organizations by the Islamist group, Al Shabab, which controls most of the region.

"There is absolutely no excuse for this action," Abdi Haji Gobdon, the media adviser to Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, told IRIN on 10 August. "These are agencies that came to help the thousands of people who need their help. This is evidence, if any was needed, of Al Shabab's disregard for the welfare and wellbeing of the Somali people. They simply don't care."

In a statement issued in Mogadishu on 9 August, Al Shabab accused World Vision, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and Diakonia of proselytizing.

"Acting as missionaries under [the guise of] the humanitarian work these three organizations have been spreading their corrupted ideologies in order to taint the pure creed of the Muslim people in Somalia," the group said. "We warn other local aid agencies against taking up the operations or secretly partnering with the banned organizations, otherwise they will face appropriate disciplinary measures."

Reacting to the ban, Mohamed Ali, an internally displaced person (IDP), living in Km 13 suburb of Mogadishu, told IRIN: "It is not suitable to chase away aid agencies that came all the way to Somalia to help the needy. Somali people need urgent and more humanitarian support; I appeal to Al Shabab not to stop anyone out to assist our people."

However, for Asha Abukar, another IDP living in Baidoa, in the Bay region, the ban would not make a difference.

"I fled with my family from Mogadishu six weeks ago; whether or not Al Shabab bans aid agencies does not make a difference to the suffering and vulnerable Somali people, like me, living without any visible aid," she said. "Already, many IDPs live in dire conditions, so if the agencies are banned or not, this does not have an impact on us here."

"Falsely accused"

On 9 August, World Vision issued a statement saying it was "surprised and disappointed" by Al Shabab's move, which it said was based on false accusations.

"World Vision is a Christian organization, motivated by its faith to help children, families and communities living in poverty, but the organization also has specific policies that prohibit proselytizing and is a signatory to the Red Cross Code of Conduct, guaranteeing impartiality in the distribution of aid," the agency said. "The move to close the organization's operations in Somalia is unfortunate, especially coming at a time when there are more than 3.6 million people in Somalia who need urgent humanitarian aid. Of those in need, 700,000 are children."

The agency, which has worked in Somalia for 18 years, said it had temporarily suspended operations in the affected areas as it planned its next step.

ADRA, which also denied proselytizing, said it expected the ban to adversely affect at least 180,000 people in the regions of Bakool, Bay, and Hiiraan where the agency was building and rehabilitating wells, providing livelihood support and increasing access to education.

Diakonia, a joint international development organization of five Swedish churches, had by 10 August not responded to the ban.

Civil society groups also condemned the ban and called on parties to the conflict to allow humanitarian access to the needy population. Al Shabab and Hisbul Islam continue to wage war against government troops in Mogadishu, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

The ban will only make things worse for those most in need, said a civil society source in Mogadishu. "These are people who have no jobs, and cannot find any other means of making a living and live mostly in the open. What happens when you stop the little assistance that they used to get through to them? They [civilians] are on their own. It is the story of Somalia," he said, calling on Al Shabab to allow in any group willing to help the vulnerable population.

"If they have any humanity they will allow access to anyone willing to help their brothers and sisters," he added.

Al Shabab's ban came as the UN announced plans to increase its presence in Somalia.

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Getting an education against all odds in Kismayo

KISMAYO, 9 August 2010 (IRIN) - Five years after a local charity opened a university to offer this bullet-scarred city's youth an alternative to militia life and emigration, the first degrees have been awarded.

"I want our people to know that education is the ladder of life and that every step of development that a community makes depends on the level of the community's education," one of the 27 new graduates, Qoole Qowden*, told IRIN.

"I am delighted to have completed four years of study during which we underwent unimaginably difficult circumstances. I am hopeful that I will get a job since I now possess the required knowledge and skills. I will also try to transmit what I learnt to every Somali who is ready for it," he said.

Like much of south-central Somalia, for the past few years Lower Juba, of which Kismayo is the main town, has been controlled by Al Shabab, an Islamist insurgency fighting to topple Somalia's weak Transitional Federal Government.

Previously, the city frequently changed hands between various warring clan militia groups.

Kismayo University has 200 students, most of whom are from Middle and Lower Juba regions where, for many years, secondary school was the highest level of learning available.

Since it opened, local sources said, the university has helped reduce the recruitment of an otherwise idle youth into fighting groups.

Education collapse

Education in Kismayo had been one of the many casualties of the region's various conflicts and frequent changes of administration.

Several schools in the city have been converted to other uses such as makeshift homes or stores, forcing talented teenagers to seek educational opportunities in Mogadishu, the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, the self-declared independent republic of Somaliland or in neighbouring Kenya.

Quruxlow Shaakle*, a resident of Kismayo, said: "We thank Allah that higher education is now available in our region. I have lived here for the past 33 years and education has been my greatest worry because as a parent, and I am sure all other parents agree with me, no one wants their child to end up as a militiaman or be used to fuel clan divisions.

"For a long time, only well-off parents could send their children across the border to Kenya to get an education; for poor families like mine, this was not possible."

Shaakle urged other Somali families to focus on their children's education, "for that is how we can put away the gun and seek peace; otherwise wars, famine and hardship in our country will continue".

The 27 who received degree certificates on 5 August were from two faculties, education and business administration, according to a university official, who added that 32 others obtained diplomas.

The university also has a Sharia (Islamic law) faculty. In all, there are 20 lecturers and fees range from US$15 to $30 per month, with some costs met by remittances from the diaspora.

The official said most of the graduates had already secured jobs in local telecommunication firms, remittance or money transfer banks and in other businesses across Kismayo.

"Some are part-time teachers in different schools," the official said, adding that the university had requested heads of companies in the region to consider Kismayo University graduates during their recruitment drives.

*Not their real names

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Somalis set to lose automatic refugee status

SANAA, 9 August 2010 (IRIN) - Straining to cope with the number of Somalis arriving by boat, Yemen is seeking to end the prima facie refugee status (automatic asylum) it has been giving them for the past 20 years.

The government says some are economic migrants and should not be granted automatic refugee status, while others are militants seeking to join al-Qaeda groups to destabilize the country.

"Not all Somalis are fleeing conflict. Many are immigrants who come from safe regions such as Bosasso [port in the Puntland region of northern Somalia] in search of better economic opportunities," Essam al-Mahbashi, a subcommittee member of the National Committee for Refugee Affairs (NCRA), told IRIN.

He said the emergence of extremist groups in Somalia, such as al-Shabab, is one of the reasons why Yemen wants to scrap the prima facie refugee status policy.

"Members of these groups want to enter Yemen to help the al-Qaeda organization in its plots that target national security and stability," al-Mahbashi said.

The NCRA, which works with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), is mandated to implement the new policy when it comes into effect.

Mohammed al-Fuqmi, a rapporteur for NCRA, said the proposal for the policy change had been submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval two months ago.

"The government needs to secure international support to cover the cost of repatriating illegal immigrants, who are not eligible for refugee status, before the new policy is put into effect," he said. "The status quo necessitates changing the policy."

He said all illegal immigrants would be returned to their countries of origin by plane "in coordination with their governments", but did not clarify how this might work in the case of Somalia which lacks a functioning government.

Al-Mahbashi said Somali and non-Somali asylum-seekers would be treated alike under the new policy.

"Firmer internationally recognized screening procedures will be applied on each individual case to determine who deserves refugee status," he said, adding that these procedures would be applied after the completion of the current refugee registration process in several months' time.

On 18 January the Interior Ministry announced that all unregistered refugees in Yemen must register with the authorities within two months. [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87805]

Extremist groups blamed

Somali refugees in Yemen blame extremist groups back home for their miserable conditions there and in Yemen.

"They forced us to flee Somalia. And then they created problems for us in Yemen. They made it too difficult for us to get refugee status," Enab Abdullah, a 35-year-old Somali woman, told IRIN in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

"I got my refugee ID last month from the Sanaa registration centre while my husband couldn't because he was suspected of having connections with these groups," she said. "They want to force him back to Somalia where the situation goes from bad to worse."

Patrick Duplat of NGO Refugees International (RI) said RI encouraged countries, including Yemen, to offer Somalis the broadest protection mechanisms possible given the current situation in their homeland.

However, he said Yemen's new policy would be in line with newly issued UNHCR guidelines [http://www.unhcr.org/4be9651c6.html] on Somalis that allow for such screening but call for those Somalis not granted refugee status to be afforded "complementary forms of international protection".

"We, however, caution that a more restrictive asylum policy towards Somalis is part of a larger trend in the region with growing xenophobia, and an increasing number of arbitrary arrests and detention," he said.

UNHCR said it was too early to comment on the Yemeni government's proposed policy change.

The government says there are about 780,000 Africans in Yemen, most of whom it says are illegal immigrants. According to UNHCR, [http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e486ba6] there were about 178,000 African refugees in Yemen as of June 2010 - 168,000 of whom were Somalis. Yemen's population is about 23 million.

Al-Mahbashi said only 10 percent of Africans arriving in Yemen passed through UNCHR-run reception centres.

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[END]

Unarmed and under fire in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, 6 August 2010 (IRIN) - Civilians, especially women, tend to bear the brunt of armed conflicts across the world, particularly in Somalia, where Islamist insurgents are fighting a weak government propped up by African Union forces. Several women in Mogadishu told IRIN about the day-to-day reality of living in a warzone.

Malyun Dirie Hantul, 28, blinded after a mortar fell on her home:

"I had just delivered our baby and was in the house as my husband washed the bloody clothes I used during the delivery; he was killed as he poured out the dirty water - a stray bullet hit him.

"One day, as I sat at the door to my home, a mortar fell on us; all I remember was the dust all around us, then I lost consciousness. I woke up in a hospital bed and immediately realized I had lost my sight. Now I am a poor, powerless and blind woman."

Fatuma Abdi Dirie, internally displaced person (IDP):

"Women are always the victims of war, rain and hunger. We live with a lot of uncertainty and this makes life a real challenge, especially for a diabetic like me. I don't know for how long we will survive like this. I think about my fate every day."

Hariro Osman, another IDP:

"I am a victim of disease sparked by poor sanitation, shelling and displacement. I have an unknown disease that I think was brought about by the rubbish around me and the smoke or burning caused by mortars which fell on my house.

"I have difficulty falling asleep at night because of the horror and stress; during the day, I struggle to look for food for my children because my husband is an old man who doesn't work."

Halima Moalim Abikar, head of Hanad, a Mogadishu-based human rights association:

"What mothers and children undergo every day is unbearable and heartbreaking; as women activists, we are calling for an end to the killing and harassment of women.

"International and local laws do not allow for the defenceless to be harmed; on the contrary, the laws demand they be respected, so my plea is: please stop displacing women every day and seek peace for their sake."

The fighting in and around Mogadishu has displaced 11,700 people since 14 June, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. The agency estimates that one million Somalis fled Mogadishu in 2007 and 2008 due to the fighting between government troops and opposition Islamist groups Al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam.

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