Rising food prices compound hardship

Residents of the violence-torn Somali capital of Mogadishu are facing increasing hardships, with prices of basic commodities rising sharply, sources said.

"Prices of basic foods, such as rice, sugar, cooking oil have increased, sometimes by 50 percent," a local resident said on Thursday. "The price increases are due to shortages [because] no ships have docked in the port in the past week due to the insecurity, and hoarding by some business people."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday said Mogadishu residents who had fled the city to seek refuge in nearby towns were hungry, faced harassment from thugs and could not find schools for their children.

Many of those who have reached towns in Lower Shabelle, especially destitute women and children, were sheltering under trees. "Rents have soared in the town of Afgoye and there are no longer houses for rent in Merka," UNHCR quoted one its local partners as saying.

The city has been subjected to violence over the past few weeks, as armed elements believed to be remnants of the ousted Union of Islamic Courts attack government targets.

UNHCR estimates that renewed violence and insecurity have forced at least 56,000 civilians to flee the city since February. Of these, more than 10,000 left in the last week as fighting escalated, leaving at least 24 people dead.

Nothing can be solved through force. We have 16 years of experience to prove it

On Thursday, a six-day lull in the fighting broke. "Fighting started as the morning at prayer time [5:00-5:30 am local time]," said Madina Muhammad Ilmi, of the local non-governmental organisation, Woman Peace Pioneers. "Many people who were hoping that the ceasefire will hold are leaving."

A local journalist told IRIN the fighting began when pro-government Ethiopian troops, who wanted to set up base in parts of the city and were in negotiations with Hawiye elders (the dominant clan in the city), mounted an attack on the Toqfiq area in northern Mogadishu.

"As civil society we were pushing for dialogue and a negotiated peace between the sides and negotiated settlement but this fighting complicates our efforts," Ilmi said.

Local civil society groups in the city said the steady exodus of people to neighbouring areas was continuing. UNHCR said its local partners saw hundreds of people waiting anxiously at the weekend in crowded bus stations or searching for truck drivers to take them out of the city. Others had packed their meagre belongings on to donkey-drawn carts and headed for safety.

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

A girl winnows grain at a camp for the internally displaced in Somalia

Since the beginning of March, about 2,250 Mogadishu residents had travelled more than 700km northeast to Galkayo, in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, most arriving after a five-day truck ride.

"This new displacement is further aggravating an already stretched humanitarian situation, as UNHCR and the other aid agencies have no access to Mogadishu and the surrounding regions due to the rampant insecurity," the UN agency said.

Ilmi said civil society groups were trying to seek a peaceful solution to end the fighting, by getting "all sides to return to dialogue". She appealed to the international community to intervene to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians.

"Nothing can be solved through force. We have 16 years of experience to prove it," she said.

ah/mw