Somalis Flee Fighting Near Afgooye Corridor

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Somalis Flee Fighting Near Afgooye Corridor
In Somalia, thousands of already displaced people are fleeing new fighting northwest of
Mogadishu. Many are heading for the capital where humanitarian agencies are setting up
emergency relief operations.

在索马里,数万名已然流离失所的难民正在向西北部的首都摩加迪休展开“新征程”.许多的难
民都奔向首都,在那里人道主义组织正在展开紧急救援行动.

U.N. refugee agency spokesman Andy Needham says more than 7,000 Somalis have left
the Afgooye corridor in the last two weeks, more than 5,000 of them in the past few days.

De Capua report on displaced Somalis
The Afgooye corridor is the largest single concentration of internally displaced people in
the world. There are over 400,000 people along a 40 kilometer stretch of road, which
snakes out from Mogadishu head eastwards.

It’s where many Somalis from Mogadishu went when intense fighting in the city was a daily
occurrence in recent years.

Advanced warning
Needham says civilians did receive a warning of possible violence from the Transitional
Federal Government and the African Union mission in Somalia.
"Well, basically in the last number of days, the TFG and AMISOM forces gave an indication
to residents within Afgooye corridor that there may be increased military activity in the
area. Basically advising people – perhaps for their own safety – to move.”

The UNHCR and other aid agencies are gearing up operations in Mogadishu.
"What we will be delivering to those people will be emergency assistance packages. They
need again, just as in the case of the famine, very basic items – shelter, food, water –
because literally they’re fleeing with their homes and their possessions on their back. And
they need to start again or find somewhere to bed down in Mogadishu.”

They’re traveling by foot, donkey and minibus. But Needham says not everyone is heading
for Mogadishu.

"Often in these situations the Somali people are very resourceful and we are receiving
some reports that they may be heading to other villages along the way. So perhaps if this
displacement continues in the coming days, we may see also different patterns emerging
where they’re going in different directions. That in some sense will ease the influx into the
city.”

Overall, the UNHCR estimates there are nearly 1.4 million displaced people within Somalia.
There are nearly a million Somali refugees in neighboring countries. Most of the refugees,
about a half million, are in Kenya at the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps