By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
NAIROBI – An average of twenty thousand Somali’s are fleeing Mogadishu every month, according to Guillermo Bettocchi, the head of the U.N. refugee agency for Somalia. Bettocchi continued “the situation is intractable . . . (and) seems to be deteriorating. We don’t see any improvement.” The recent wave of refugees means that up to one million of Somalia’s nine million total residents are now living as refugee’s.
This mass exodus gives Somalia’s the worlds largest group of internally displaced people, with over two hundred thousand clustered in difficult conditions between Mogadishu and another town to the west. Consequences for refugees have become dire, with many of the refugees surviving on less than a meal a day and spending almost their entire income on drinking water. In discussing the consequences, Bettocchi cited an example of an Ethiopian woman who gave birth while unconscious on a boat. Before she regained consciousness, smugglers threw her baby overboard.
The conflict that has wracked Somalia for the last seventeen years took a new turn in early 2007, when the Ethiopian-backed government was attacked by an Islamist-led insurgency. The most recent wave of refugees fled what are described as “Iraq-style” attacks on the capital.
The recent exodus continues, despite the African Union Mission to Somalia’s (AMISOM) deployment of peacekeepers to the area. Assessments of the now one-year old peacekeeping force are mixed, with detractors citing a thinly stretched force that lacks funds and equipment to effectively provide a security presence. Out of a pledged troop strength of eight thousand from multiple African nations, only two Ugandan battalions and one hundred and ninety-two Burundian soldiers are on the ground in Mogadishu. Many of these troops do not have adequate resources.
However, officials from Uganda, provider of the most troops, cite improved security where troops are deployed, as well as improved medical services and water provisions as evidence of success of the mission. “What used to be hell on Earth if not hell after all,” said Captain Paddy Ankunda, a Ugandan army spokesman.” Even those who try and find success in the first year of AMISOM’s deployment, admit that the force could be much more effective if each country who has pledged troops would deploy those troops.
AMISOM’s mandate is to protect Somalia’s transitional federal institutions to enable them to carry out their functions of government. Citizens of Mogadishu claim to have seen no change since the deployment, saying that violence has continued, and there is no effect on the lives of the ordinary people.
The semblance of a functioning government in Somalia, non-existent for the last seventeen years, got a boost this week, when United National Special Representative Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah announced that the transitional government was ready to hold talks with the opposition. Ould-Abdallah will assume a leadership role, joining the two parties in discussions on peace and stability. In discussing his role, Ould-Abdallah said “I have no doubt that all Somalis and their concerned friends, governments and organizations will support this move and that everyone would refrain from any action that might hinder these important steps.”
For more information, please see:
allAfrica.com – UN Envoy Lauds Government’s Willingness to Talk With Opposition – 12 March 2008
Reuters – Somalia War Creates 20,000 refugees a month – 13 March 2008
allAfrica.com – One Year Later, AU Force in Mogadishu Soldiers On – 12 March 2008
Relief Web – UN Special Representative for Somalia calls for support for reconciliation – 12 March 2008
