Urgent help needed for thousands displaced in Galgadud

Local authorities in the central Galgadud region have appealed for urgent help for at least 80,000 people displaced by fighting in the towns of Dusamareb and Guri-Eil.



Fighting between the Al-Shabab and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a Islamist groups has been continuing in the area for the past 10 days.



"Almost the entire population of the town [30,000] and thousands of displaced [about 10,000] from Mogadishu fled the town after intense fighting between the two groups," Ali Sheikh Mahamud, the Guri-Eil district commissioner, told IRIN on 5 January.



Most of the displaced have scattered across rural villages, which are hard to reach because of rampant insecurity and limited resources, he said, impeding any aid delivery.



The IDP population was mixed, with some households previously displaced from Mogadishu and others newly displaced from other parts of Galgadud, Mahamud said.



In Dusamareb, the regional capital, 500km north of Mogadishu, some 7,000 families have been displaced, according to civil society sources.



"Our estimate is that 7,000 [42,000 people] have been displaced and most of those are the previously displaced from Mogadishu," Aded Sheikhdon, a civil society activist, told IRIN.



Sheikhdon said the displaced were spending their nights in the open, under trees: "The nights are cold while the days are very hot." The IDPs desperately needed shelter material, food and water, he said.



While acknowledging that the security situation did not allow international aid agencies to operate, Mahamud said those who wanted to help should contact community leaders. "We will find ways to get any assistance to the people," he said.



The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it was planning a general food distribution in late January, security permitting. "Depending on a successful security assessment giving the go-ahead to operate in the area, WFP is planning a general food distribution later in January in Dusamareb and Guri-Eil districts," said Mahamud Hassan, WFP Somalia spokesman told IRIN in Nairobi.



Peace efforts



Attempts are being made to end the fighting. Ilmi Hirsi Arab, chairman of the area council of elders, told IRIN they were trying to find ways to stop the fighting and bring the people back home.



"We are meeting today [5 January] to try to find a peaceful solution," he said, appealing to both sides to stop the hostilities and talk.



"We want an immediate end to this and we are calling on both to talk to each other and end the suffering of the people," he said.



So far, Mahamud said, "100 people have died in the fighting and around 70 have been injured".



However, a local journalist told IRIN the two sides were still facing each other, "with no movement towards talks".



He said both Dusamareb and Guri-Eil were quiet on 5 January but there were concerns of a major clash unless the elders succeeded in their mediation.



Since fighting between Ethiopian-backed Somali forces and insurgents intensified in early 2007, about one million Somalis have fled their homes. An estimated 16,000 civilians have been killed and some 30,000 injured, according to human rights groups.



Aid workers estimate that more than three million Somalis need assistance.



ah/mw