UN refugee agency says 88,000 displaced in Somalia in 3 months

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Sunday April 28, 2024

File photo shows refugees at a refugee camp in Afgoye, Somalia. (Photo by Hassan Bashi/Xinhua)

MOGADISHU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Sunday that about 88,000 people were internally displaced in Somalia in the first three months of 2024.

The UNHCR said the displacement was mainly caused by conflict or insecurity and the long-term effects of flooding, which occurred between October and December 2023.

"Clan conflicts and political differences within the federal member states (FMS) as well as between the Somali government and the FMS further threaten the fragile security situation," the UNHCR said in its latest update released in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

The UN refugee agency noted that the security situation in the country remains tense, with ongoing military operations to reclaim territory from al-Shabab, which has been responsible for multiple indiscriminate attacks, often causing harm to ordinary Somalis.

The indiscriminate reprisal attacks against the non-state armed group have resulted in the deaths and displacement of innocent bystanders, the UNHCR said.

Meanwhile, decades of conflict and insecurity, political tensions, clan dynamics, and climate change have resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, according to the UN agency.

"The heavy rains and flooding subsided by the end of 2023, but the climate crisis persists in Somalia. The residual effects of the floods and drought continue to displace many Somalis," the UNHCR said.

It said finding durable solutions for refugees and asylum-seekers, refugee returnees, and internally displaced persons in cooperation with the government, federal member states, and development and humanitarian partners remains one of its top priorities in Somalia. ■

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