GENEVA — In an opening speech to the UNHCR’s Executive Committee, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi appealed to member states to provide protection to people fleeing conflict and persecution, regardless of ethnicity and nationality. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) reports the number of people forcibly displaced by armed …
Read More »UNHCR alarmed by killing of 2 Somali refugees in EC
JOHANNESBURG — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it’s concerned by the gruesome killing of two Somali nationals in Klein Bulhoek near Grahamstown this week. The bodies were discovered by a resident inside a tuckshop container. Eastern Cape police have since opened a case of murder and …
Read More »From Dadaab to Mogadishu: More refugees return to rebuild Somalia
In November 2016, when Abdullahi Ali Farah landed in the Somali port city of Kismayo after 22 years of living as a refugee in northeastern Kenya, he was afraid and hopeful at the same time. “I was excited about the freedom and prospect of finally returning to my motherland but …
Read More »UN refugee agency: Climate change, conflict forcing more people in Africa to flee
GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, is warning that the displacement crisis in the Horn of Africa and Sahel is getting worse as the impact of climate change and conflict are forcing more people to flee in search of safety and humanitarian assistance. Climate shocks like floods and droughts are …
Read More »Somali families affected by drought in desperate need of sustenance
BAIDOA — Somalia, the most climate change-affected country in the Horn of Africa, is facing a catastrophic drought that has already claimed hundreds of lives. Baidoa, the capital of Southwest State, hosts thousands of new arrivals from rural areas after the drought devastated their farms and livestock, some of them walking …
Read More »UNOCHA: Number of Somalis affected by drought rises to 7.8 million people
MOGADISHU — The number of people affected by the severe drought ravaging several parts of Somalia has risen to 7.8 million as of August, the United Nations humanitarian agency said Friday. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in its latest report on drought released Thursday …
Read More »One million people displaced by drought in Somalia
A devastating drought in Somalia has reached unprecedented levels, as the one millionth person displaced by the drought was registered this week. More than 755,000 people have been internally displaced in Somalia because of the severe drought this year, bringing the total figure to 1 million people since January 2021 …
Read More »UN refugee agency calls for more protection for African refugees and migrants
GENEVA — The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, Friday called for more to be done to protect African refugees and migrants from traffickers on their way from the Sahel and the Horn of Africa toward North Africa and Europe. UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo says traffickers take advantage of African refugees fleeing …
Read More »UN agency funding refugee deportations in Somaliland
HARGEISA — Today, in an unprecedented move, Somaliland with the help of IOM has started deporting civilians who have been living there for a long time from Hargeisa. Somaliland’s refugee agency has today deported Oromo families who lived in Somaliland for over 25 years back to Ethiopia, after Somaliland said …
Read More »UN raises alarm over drought IDPs in Somalia
MOGADISHU — The United Nations says in a recent report that the number of people displaced by the drought in Somalia has increased by 231 percent. The report was released by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), IOM and UNICEF in a joint statement on the drought …
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Somali Observatory for Humanitarian Affairs The Voice of Reality.. The Eye of Humanitarian Truth in Somalia