WUNRN
SOMALIA - COMPOUNDED &
PROTRACTED HUMANITARIAN CRISIS - WOMEN
UN Refugee Agency - UNHCR
The
majority of IDPs - Internally Displaced Persons - in Somalia live in extremely
congested settlements, on privately owned land, without water and sanitation
facilities. They are frequently subjected to abuse and exploitation.
SOMALIA - 2012
Total Somali's Internally Displaced:
1, 500,000
Those Somali IDP's Served by UNHCR -
600,000
There are also asylum seekers and
refugees in Somalia from other countries as Ethiopia.
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Internal Displacement Monitoring
Centre - IDMC
News Alert - February 20, 2012
Somalia: New Displacement and Increasing
Humanitarian and Protection Concerns
According to
the BBC, on 15 February Somali government forces and their African Union allies
launched an
offensive on Afgooye town near Mogadishu to flush out Al-Shabaab fighters. The
town is home to the biggest concentration of IDPs in Somalia, with an estimated
400,000 people living in shanty dwellings. The shelling of the town
forced IDPs who had sought refuge in Afgoye since 2007 to flee back to
Mogadishu, fearing for their lives.
Fighting also
reportedly broke out on 8 February in the north between forces of the
self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland and clan militias loyal to the
newly-created Khatumo State, which is on a disputed area between Somaliland and
the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland. An estimated 6,000 people took
refuge in nearby villages; the IDPs are in urgent need of shelter and food
assistance.
Meanwhile, growing insecurity in South Galkayo in central Somalia has forced
aid agencies to withdraw, with serious implications for an estimated 60,000
IDPs who are facing shortages
of food, shelter and medical help. IDPs in camps in Somaliland are also facing
growing threats to their safety and integrity, due to an increase in the number
of rape cases
and domestic violence incidents.