SPIRALING VIOLENCE CLAIMS HUNDREDS OF LIVES IN SOMALIA – UN REFUGEE AGENCY

The United Nations refugee agency today voiced its grave concern over the escalating violence and worsening displacement crisis in the Somali capital, where local hospitals report that over 250 civilians have been killed and nearly 1,000 others wounded since fighting erupted last month.

Continued fighting, which broke out on 7 May in several parts of north-west Mogadishu between Government forces and the opposition Al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam, "is leaving a trail of civilian casualties, destruction and renewed displacement," William Spindler, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva.

Since violence broke out last month, the agency estimates that over 160,000 people have been driven to other parts of Somalia or to neighbouring nations, with some 26,000 uprooted between 19 and 22 June alone.

Most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), numbering nearly 50,000, have moved to safer areas within Mogadishu or to makeshift camps on the capital's outskirts. A further 45,000 people have fled towards the so-called Afgooye corridor 30 kilometres south-east of Mogadishu, joining 400,000 other IDPs who have been displaced since 2007.

Some of the newly displaced are families who had recently returned to the capital after a period of relative peace in the first quarter of this year, Mr. Spindler said.

"Many IDPs tell stories of hardship and suffering as they try to flee the embattled Somali capital," he added, noting that most people escaping the clashes are leaving on minibuses, whose drivers are charging $250 or more, carrying 20 people on average.

According to UNHCR's local partners, a mother of six who had left Mogadishu said it took her nine days to reach Afmadow, 400 kilometres west of the capital, with transporters taking her money and leaving her family stranded along the route.

"The deteriorating security situation has sharply reduced deliveries of desperately needed humanitarian aid to the displaced in and around Mogadishu," the agency's spokesperson said, adding that UNHCR partners, which are providing emergency aid to IDPs, are facing growing security problems.

Neighbouring Kenya is seeing numbers of Somalis crossing the border increase. Since the start of the year, 38,000 new refugees – virtually all of them from Somalia – have arrived. The Dabaab camp, the largest in the world, is currently home to nearly 300,000 people, three times the number it is intended to hold.

More than $4 million has been allocated from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to alleviate overcrowding and assist Somali refugees at Kenyan camps, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

Last week, the Security Council voiced its concern at the situation in Somalia, reiterating its support for the Transitional Federal Government, its efforts to achieve peace, security and reconciliation in Somalia through the UN-facilitated Djibouti process, which aided the formation of the new government in February, as well as the creation of a newly-expanded Parliament and election of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
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THAILAND: UN WORKING TO ASSIST 2,000 RECENTLY-ARRIVED MYANMAR REFUGEES

THAILAND: UN WORKING TO ASSIST 2,000 RECENTLY-ARRIVED MYANMAR REFUGEES
New York, Jun 12 2009 11:00AM
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (<"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home">UNHCR) said today it is working with the Thai Government to help meet the needs of some 2,000 Karen villagers who fled Myanmar in early June.

UNHCR staff have now verified the number of recent arrivals after visiting five sites in northern Thailand where Karen villagers are taking shelter.

"Although we cannot absolutely say this is the total number who have crossed the Moei River to Thailand in this period, we have not seen evidence of significantly higher numbers," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler <"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/media?page=home&id=4a3229012">told reporters in Geneva.

He said that by and large, the Karen villagers say they fled in fear of conscription by armed forces or of forced labour as porters for armed forces. "Those who mentioned military action mostly said they fled in anticipation of fighting as the Myanmar army and their allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, approached rebel Karen National Union bases and villages.

"Only a few said their villages had actually been shelled, but while our staff interviewed the recent arrivals on the Thai side of the border on Tuesday and Thursday, they heard shelling on the Myanmar side," he added.

According to UNHCR, Thai authorities have responded "quickly and sympathetically" to the needs of the new arrivals. The agency is working with the Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to meet the needs of the Karen villagers, who are taking shelter mostly in temples, in a communal hall and in private Thai homes in four villages.

A large group at a fifth place called Mae Usu who were reported to be sheltering in a cave are actually in a large field that was once the site of a refugee camp many years ago, Mr. Spindler noted. "This group, estimated at between 700 and 900 people, is living in seasonal agricultural houses that farmers use when they are harvesting crops, but which are normally empty at this time of year."

UNHCR said that the new arrivals at this location have some possessions they brought with them, and also have received rice, blankets and other relief items from the Thai-Burma Border Consortium, a NGO that has been serving Karen refugees along the border since the 1980s.

"Although some of the Karen villagers, who are mostly farmers, managed to bring some possessions with them, others said they fled with only the clothes on their back," said Mr. Spindler.

Among the most urgently needed items are clothes, especially baby clothes, as well as soap, and bamboo pallets to keep from having to sleep in the mud amid heavy rains. UNHCR has already distributed 200 plastic sheets to help with emergency shelter.
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