New threat to those fleeing violence in Mogadishu

Apr 27, 2007, 10:11 GMT

Geneva - Tens of thousands of people fleeing the Somali capital Mogadishu now faced growing lawlessness in one of the region's where they had sought safety, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said Friday.

Between 340,000 and 400,000 are now estimated to have fled Mogadishu since February. Up to 40,000 have headed west to the town of Afgooye, which has grown increasingly chaotic.

'The town which used to be safe, is now roamed by thugs who rob passersby at gunpoint, even in broad daylight,' UNHCR said in a statement.

Shopkeepers were charging exorbitant prices and some landowners were reported to be charging, those on the road from Mogadishu to Aggooye a fee just for sitting in the shade of a tree.

UNHCR staff said people were continuing to leave the capital which was slowly turning into a ghost town. Yesterday, Somalia's transitional government claimed 'victory' over Islamic insurgents, urging citizens to return and predicting the war would end imminently.

Meanwhile the UN children's agency, UNICEF, condemned the mortar shelling of the SOS children's hospital yesterday which left several patients injured.

'It is an action that is totally unacceptable and one for which no justification can be given,' said the UNICEF representative in Somalia, Christian Balslev-Olesen.

'Where is the accountability in this conflict? Every day thousands of displaced people, most of them women and children, are living a nightmare of violence,' he said.