Massive displacement in central region

Hundreds of families who were driven out of their homes by recent fighting in the Galgudud Region, central Somalia, are said to be living in "destitute" conditions. Local elders told IRIN the exodus was due to heavy fighting two weeks ago between the Darod subclan of the Marehan and the Dir subclan of Fiqi Mahmud. The clashes were concentrated in and around the village of Herale, some 80 km northwest of Dhusa-Marreb, the regional capital. Many of these 2,000 or so families were now living in the open, with little or no food, Abdiqani Shaykh Yusuf, a Dir elder said. "Many of them have lost all their livestock and now depend on the goodwill of the people of Dhusa-Marreb." The plight of the displaced is compounded by the prevailing drought in the area. "There have been no rains this year in Dhusa-Marreb and the surrounding areas," Yusuf Hasan Iyow, the governor of Galgudud, told IRIN on Monday. "The residents are hardly better off than the displaced," he added. "Most people here depend on livestock, which is dying now, because of the drought. Even business people are being affected." He said there was no aid agencies in the area helping either the displaced or the residents affected by the drought. Moreover, due to their weakened state, many of the displaced, particularly the young and elderly, were succumbing to disease, Abdirahman Ali, a health worker in Dhusa-Marreb, told IRIN. "Diarrhoea, malaria and respiratory infections are the most common diseases, and we are also seeing cases of very severely malnourished children," he said. "If they don't get help very soon, it may be too late." Meanwhile, mediation efforts are under way to resolve the conflict, Iyow told IRIN. "We have asked prominent elders and intellectuals from both sides to come from Mogadishu to help in the mediation," he said. He was hopeful that "this time round we will succeed, but it has been a very difficult meditation up to now."