More than 15,000 Somali refugees live in squalid conditions

[musika man]

SOMALIA-YEMEN: More than 15,000 Somali refugees live in squalid conditions

ADEN, 10 April 2007 (IRIN) - Amnah Abdul-Hamid, 26, escaped war in Somalia in search of a better life in Yemen. But since arriving four years ago, her two children have died of diarrhoea and she is now sick and destitute.

“I suffer from brain neuritis [inflammation of a nerve or nerves]. I am in dire need of help as I have no job to provide food and shelter for myself,” said Amnah, a divorcee who lives and depends on a Somali family living in the predominantly Somali al-Basateen area of Aden province.

"I need to work but I am sick, and the war in my country prevents me from returning," she said.

Like Amnah, scores of Somali refugees flock daily to a small room in the centre of al-Basateen area, where Somali community leaders meet. This is their first port of call whenever they have problems.

The refugees have selected seven leaders, including women, who represent their tribes, to head the Somali Community and address their issues.

Established six years ago, the’ Somali Community Leadership’ has no resources. "We manage by ourselves. The rent of the leadership's room is paid by ADRA [an international NGO]," Mohammed Deriah, the overall leader of the Somali Community, said.

According to him, 15,540 Somali refugees with identification cards live in al-Basateen area, while many others live there without ID. "Over the past three weeks, we received 2,500 Somali refugees who fled their country to escape the war," he told IRIN.

Most of the houses at al-Basateen are made of tin and mud. Their monthly rent ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 Yemeni riyals a month (about US $16-26).

Poor conditions

Ventilation and sanitation are very poor there. The area is neither well planned nor asphalted. Rubbish is thrown outside houses as there are no waste bins.

Dr. Fares Najeeb, head of the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) health facility at al-Basateen, said poverty and poor sanitation are the root causes of diseases among the refugees. Najeeb said the common diseases in the area are diarrhoea, chest inflammation and, to some extent, malaria. He estimated the cases of malaria at 80 a month. In addition, at least one tuberculosis case is reported a month, he said.

There are only two health facilities there, one of which deals with children and mothers. The two facilities were set up by CSSW, a local NGO, in 1999. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) assists them, while the Ministry of Health provides free medication and 43 health workers.

During summer, residents face water shortages and electricity outages. "The government reduces the water supply to the area during summer. The same can be said about electricity, at a time when we need such services all the more," said community leader Deriah.

Deriah added that while Somali children were permitted to attend public schools for free, most did not go. “Families can't afford other requirements like notebooks and school uniforms. Very few boys attend school," he said.

Somali refugees at al-Basateen depend mainly on menial jobs - such as washing cars, working in construction sites and cleaning houses - as a source of income.

Somali refugee Habibah Hassan, 35, said she arrived in Yemen seven years ago after armed gangs tied up her husband - a former colonel in the former Somali national army - in Somalia, robbed him of US $20,000, and treaded on her stomach, causing her to miscarry.

Habibah described living conditions in al-Basateen as ‘miserable’. "We came to Yemen with the hope to travel to another country, but as we failed, my husband was in such a mental state that he has since disappeared," she said.

Last month, Erika Feller, UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, visited Yemen and described the Somali refugees’ situation as “distressing”. She called for additional resources to improve their conditions.

According to UNHCR, there are about 100,000 refugees in Yemen, most of whom are Somalis.

Yemen is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71247

[musika man]

SOMALIA: Displaced Somalis living rough near Kenyan border

NAIROBI, 19 April 2007 (IRIN) - At least 15,000 Somalis who fled violence in the capital, Mogadishu, are facing disease and uncertainty in Dobley town, near the Kenyan border, local sources told IRIN on Thursday.

"Our estimate is that since February, some 2,500 families [15,000 people] have arrived in Dobley," Ali Hussein Nur, the Dobley District Commissioner, said.

Families in the small town, he added, were hosting two to three families, while others had set up makeshift camps under trees. He said up to eight minibuses carrying internally displaced persons (IDPs) had been arriving daily from Mogadishu since February.

However, Nur said the influx had slowed in the last two to three days due to the start of the rainy season. "We have reached a saturation point and we need help with this," he added, noting that those who wanted to enter Kenya could do not so since the government closed its border more than three months ago.

Ali Hussein Goni, an official from the Swedish African Welfare Alliance (SAWA), said the IDPs faced the growing threat of disease at their makeshift camps. In collaboration with local authorities, a temporary isolation camp was set up on 1 April for people suffering from acute watery diarrhoea. Since then, 10 people, mostly children, had died.

"Today [Thursday] we have 20 patients, almost all children," he said, adding that the most pressing needs of the displaced were shelter, food and medicines.

"There are pressing needs in Dobley and other parts of south and central Somalia," Millicent Mutuli, the senior regional public information officer for the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said. "However, there continue to be concerns about security in some parts of Somalia, which has limited the UN's ability to bring aid to needy families."

The agency has sent two truckloads of relief and medical supplies from Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya to Dobley, 18 km from the Kenyan border, UNHCR said in a statement.

The town is struggling to cope with a recent influx of displaced Somalis and an outbreak of diarrhoea, the agency added.

Since intense fighting between Ethiopian-backed government troops and insurgents began in February, at least 1,000 people have been reportedly killed and more than 200,000 others displaced.

Meanwhile, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has closed its employment programme in Mogadishu. The programme had been engaging communities in employment intensive projects around the city.

"The ILO Employment for Peace (EFP) in Mogadishu and South and Central Somalia regrets to announce the early termination of its activities in Mogadishu," ILO said in a statement on Thursday. "The early termination is due entirely to the security situation in the city."

[musika man]

SOMALIA: Help thousands displaced, civil society urges aid agencies

NAIROBI, 18 April 2007 (IRIN) - Civil society organisations in Somalia have appealed to the international community to help thousands of families that have been displaced over the past three months following violence in the capital, Mogadishu.

"We are appealing to donor agencies, particularly to the United Nations, to urgently come to the assistance of these people who are living in the open," Madina Muhammad Ilmi, the deputy head of a civil society taskforce to help the displaced, said on Wednesday.

The most pressing need is shelter material, to help people already weakened by lack of food and water, said Ilmi. "We need help in all areas, but plastic sheeting is urgently needed," she added.

It is estimated that at least 200,000 people have fled their homes in the city since February. Ilmi said almost all the displaced were depending on help from outside and were living in the most appalling conditions.

Diseases such as diarrhoea and respiratory problems among children and the elderly were taking a heavy toll on the displaced, she said, adding that with the onset of the 'Gu' (long) rains, the situation will get worse for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) if the rains pick up as expected.

The taskforce recently distributed 600 plastic sheets donated by a business group. Ilmi urged the aid agencies to address the shelter needs of the displaced "as a matter of extreme urgency".

The United Nations has expressed concern at the lack of access to the affected populations due to the prevailing insecurity in Mogadishu.

"Insecurity in and around the capital has obstructed humanitarian partners from scaling up the response to meet the vast needs of the displaced," according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Somalia.

OCHA-Somalia said that while relief supplies were available in Mogadishu, insecurity had prevented access to warehouses, and so far the response has been minimal. Response efforts, it added, had also been undermined as much by last minute administrative procedures requested by authorities as by insecurity on the ground.

"Strategically located airstrips such as K50 [south of the city] and Merka [100 km south] remain inaccessible despite repeated appeals to allow their use by humanitarian partners," said OCHA-Somalia.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting broke out on Tuesday night in Mogadishu, local sources told IRIN. The fighting started around 8:30 p.m. local time in Wardigley area [south] and quickly spread to other parts of the city.

The fighting, which continued until 3:00 a.m., "was one of the heaviest in recent days, and started when Ethiopian troops tried to reinforce their positions in an area around the stadium [football]," the local source said.

Medical sources said at least 11 people were killed and 45 injured in the latest clashes. Clan elders who negotiated a ceasefire with Ethiopian troops in the city said it was still being observed despite the clashes.

"It is a matter of disengagement. So long as the sides are facing each other there will be clashes, that is why we are insisting that Ethiopians should return to their former bases and away from population centres," said Ugas Abdidahir Ugas Nur, a member of the Hawiye council of elders.

[Koronto91]

Musika, since when do you care? Are you not the same individual that used to speerhead a villifying campaign against the Islamic courts? Nagging about they did this, they did that, atleast during their rule there was peace & people didn't get shelled in their homes.

This is the government you have been telling us will safe Somalia, you and many other hypocrits on this forum. The ICU is out, let us see sheekada meesha ey ku dambeyso.

[musika man]

[quote="Koronto91"]Musika, since when do you care? Are you not the same individual that used to speerhead a villifying campaign against the Islamic courts? Nagging about they did this, they did that, atleast during their rule there was peace & people didn't get shelled in their homes.

This is the government you have been telling us will safe Somalia, you and many other hypocrits on this forum. The ICU is out, let us see sheekada meesha ey ku dambeyso.[/quote]

^^

listen nigga, the difference between me and you is, am a somali and you ain't. when i say somali, i seek a nation not a somali nation based with my tribal shaanshi leadership. lemme ask you, why was abdiqasim a president and why is the incumbent yusuf? when abdiqasim was president, how was he ellected? isnt he the same dude who gave shabeele hoose to ayr, an inhumane truck driver who looked like evil, named indhocadde, opressed, killed, raped and enslaved the local peaceful population? the same deal in kismayo with ayr and marehan partnership. the icu was a beautiful dream came true, but was hijacked by ayr hutu courts, with their ogaden slaves. you ogadens only became their donkeys. indhocadde was promoted as defence minister. your stupid argument is, hamar became peaceful, why the fok will i care about warrying abgals and habargedirs in hamar if my people in marka are still opressed by indhocadde? icu was hijacked by ayr, you as an onlf terrorist keeping licking the hutu court balls. allah hate hypocrites, that is why they lost. go and fight ethiopia for ogadenia, i need my somali nation not a tribal nation. i never saw yusuf as bad as abdiqasim. he is leading the insurgents. fok him. i fell sorry for my somali people.

[e!]

[quote="musika man"][quote="Koronto91"]Musika, since when do you care? Are you not the same individual that used to speerhead a villifying campaign against the Islamic courts? Nagging about they did this, they did that, atleast during their rule there was peace & people didn't get shelled in their homes.

This is the government you have been telling us will safe Somalia, you and many other hypocrits on this forum. The ICU is out, let us see sheekada meesha ey ku dambeyso.[/quote]

^^

listen nigga, the difference between me and you is, am a somali and you ain't. when i say somali, i seek a nation not a somali nation based with my tribal shaanshi leadership. lemme ask you, why was abdiqasim a president and why is the incumbent yusuf? when abdiqasim was president, how was he ellected? isnt he the same dude who gave shabeele hoose to ayr, an inhumane truck driver who looked like evil, named indhocadde, opressed, killed, raped and enslaved the local peaceful population? the same deal in kismayo with ayr and marehan partnership. the icu was a beautiful dream came true, but was hijacked by ayr hutu courts, with their ogaden slaves. you ogadens only became their donkeys. indhocadde was promoted as defence minister. your stupid argument is, hamar became peaceful, why the fok will i care about warrying abgals and habargedirs in hamar if my people in marka are still opressed by indhocadde? icu was hijacked by ayr, you as an onlf terrorist keeping licking the hutu court balls. allah hate hypocrites, that is why they lost. go and fight ethiopia for ogadenia, i need my somali nation not a tribal nation. i never saw yusuf as bad as abdiqasim. he is leading the insurgents. fok him. i fell sorry for my somali people.[/quote]

warya, i always wanted to know how it feels to have nappy hair, can you tell me and whats it like to have a flat nose with flaring nostrils?

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Musika
The core problem with refugee camps is this: Countries like Yemen, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya do not want to make refugee camps pleasant places to be. Those camps and the refugees in them are economic burdens. They want the refugees to go home.

When I was at CJTF-HOA, we had a plan to improve the infrastructure of a number of camps, but certain governments (to remain unnamed) refused us the permission to do so. We could conduct medical assitance visits, but we could not make any improvements to the permanent infrastructure of the camps.

This is one of the ugly costs of warfare that people here who beat the war drums CONSTANTLY never seem to consider, or even care about.

[The_Patriot]

listen all this was planned by your Govt.
thanks for the little help that relieves 0.1% of our plight by building tents and feeding our people with GMO or Expired food.
I bet you were vacinating the folks too with 10% of the patients being injected with an unkown syndrome.
you see The problem in somalia is not even regional but one that was planned in the white house 2 decades ago.

So the Ethiopians,TFG are part of the characters in the pscho drama.
while the real victims are Somalis.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

"The problem in somalia is not even regional but one that was planned in the white house 2 decades ago."

Dow do you figure???? Two decades ago, in 1987, the US had positive relations with Somalia. How was the US planning for a Somali refugee problem at that time - or any time for that matter?

As for the ICU, well, US interests are going to come before the interests of Somalis. So, if Somalis start developing political currents that are contrary to US interests, esspecially what the US perceives as significant interests, then the Somalis are going to be on the losing end of the stick. And if they know that in advance, they have no one but themselves to blame.

Lastly the immunizations are not some sort of experiments, and making such false claims only prevents children from being immunized against things like polio.

[The_Patriot]

US hardly cares about refugees what it cares about is the land i.e Somalia.

mad mac when you were still hanging around Nazi clubs was when the US decided on somalia issues.
thats early 80's

the ICU is somehow a by product of US activities in somalia.
hence they use this to justify their bloody engagement.

know tell me how on earth did US intelligence infiltrate ICU ranks while still be unable to get hold of the supposedly 3 alqaida members.
tell me what necessiatated to the carpet bombing of an entire region just too eliminate3 suspects?

I think the issue is more than Alqaida.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

"US hardly cares about refugees what it cares about is the land i.e Somalia."

What land?? You guys have the most worthless land in the world. Shit. Get your head out of your a$$.

"mad mac when you were still hanging around Nazi clubs was when the US decided on somalia issues. thats early 80's"

Again, what decisions were made? Was Somalia so thoroughly vulnerable that the US could manipulate any outcome it wanted 20 years in advance? We must be even more clever and powerful than I thought.

"the ICU is somehow a by product of US activities in somalia.
hence they use this to justify their bloody engagement."

I see. So the US created and controls the ICU, the TFG and the Ethiopians. Man, we are good.

"know tell me how on earth would US intelligence infiltrate ICU officials while still be unable to get hold of the supposedly 3 alqaida members.
tell me what necessiatated to the carpet bombing of an entire region just too kill 3 suspects?"

CARPET BOMBING?????? ARE YOU SERIOUS????? There are a couple of precision strikes from single aircraft that killed far less than 100 persons and you call that a carpet bombing????? WTF????

"I think the issue is more than Alqaida."

It's political Islam. Thought I already explained that.

[The_Patriot]

redneck arguing with you is like arguing with a toddler.

You are just like the virginia lunatic.
the difference is you are still alive.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

When beaten in an argument, the old Islamic tactic of simply insulting the person you are arguing with. The other favorite is to answer a question with a question - often not a related question.

[biko]

[quote="The_Patriot"]redneck arguing with you is like arguing with a toddler.

You are just like the virginia lunatic.
the difference is you are still alive.[/quote]
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LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

walaahi that coment made me fall of my chair. literally.

virginia lunatic kulaha...lool

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

The other thing I find hillarious is you all have a tendency to blame America for everything. No sense of responsility for yourselves.