UN: Over 200,000 uprooted from Mogadishu since May (Roundup)

Jul 7, 2009, 15:01 GMT

Geneva - In two months of renewed fighting in beleaguered Mogadishu, at least 204,000 people have been forced to flee their homes to refugee camps and other places to seek safety, according to data released Tuesday from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Intense fighting between insurgent groups and government forces started again in early May in what is officially the capital of Somalia, a country that has not had a strong central government in nearly two decades.

'It has become impossible to provide medical and humanitarian assistance to those in need,' said Monica Camacho, general coordinator of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) mission in Somalia.

The organization said it was forced to close its medical clinics in north Mogadishu due to the heavy fighting, with its staff 'fleeing for their lives.' Some of the clinics were taken over by armed groups, forcing patients to evacuate.

Regarding the displaced, MSF said there was 'a desperate shortage of food and water, and settlements of internally displaced people are overcrowded, posing a serious risk for epidemics, such as measles or cholera.'

A recent note from the UNHCR said that the figures of the uprooted 'likely include some (internally displaced people) who have been displaced more than once.'

The note also said that camps for the displaced in some areas, like the Kaaraan and Kax Shiqaal districts, were no longer entirely safe and were witnessing 'intense fighting.' This would likely cause the newly displaced to again move in search of refuge.