MOGADISHU — Three decades of violence have left 2.9 million of Somalia’s citizens internally displaced, but the country is also home to 25,000 refugees, including 6,800 Yemenis and over 700 Syrians. Faith Kasina of the U.N.’s refugee agency, UNHCR, has praised Somalia’s open-door policy for refugees, which allows them to …
Read More »Refugees in Kenya worried by govt’s plans to close 2 camps
NAIROBI — Hundreds of thousands of refugees in Northern Kenya’s Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps are frightened about their future after being told by the government that they must return to their homes by next year, which they had fled some years ago due to terrorist attacks and calamities such as …
Read More »A Somali mother’s struggle to survive Jowhar’s floods
JOWHAR — Government figures indicate over 45,000 people have been affected by the heavy flooding that hit the Jowhar district of southern Somalia on 10 May 2021.The climate appears to be changing and the country is now recording more wet and dry weather events, which are becoming ever more difficult …
Read More »Officials: Flooding displaces hundreds and destroys farmland in Jowhar
MOGADISHU — Hundreds of people have been displaced & large farmlands of newly sown crops destroyed by floods after a Shabelle river burst its banks in Baarey & Moyko villages near Jowhar officials said, as the Food and Agricultural Organizataion warned rising water levels along the Juba and Shabelle Rivers …
Read More »UN: Violence displaces 250K in 2 weeks in Mogadishu
MOGADISHU — More than 250,000 people have been displaced in the past two weeks in violence and generalized insecurity in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and its environs, the United Nations humanitarian agency has said. The displacement took place in Banadir, Berdale and Badweyn, including nearly 200,000 in Mogadishu, in Banadir …
Read More »Kenya tells UN it will shut two camps with 410,000 refugees by June 2022
NAIROBI — Kenya said on Thursday it had told the United Nations it will shut by June 2022 two camps holding over 430,000 refugees who fled from wars in the east and Horn of Africa, adding it planned to repatriate some and give others residency. The interior ministry made the …
Read More »UN: Violence forces 100,000 to flee homes in Mogadishu
MOGADISHU — The United Nations humanitarian agency said Wednesday that between 60,000 and 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Mogadishu following an outbreak of violence on April 25. Cesar Arroyo, the UN acting humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said those displaced include vulnerable internally displaced persons who …
Read More »NRC: Drought-hit Somalia faces record displacements
MOGADISHU — Somalia is bracing for record levels of displacement in 2021 due to severe drought which is ravaging parts of the country, leaving many people without water and livelihoods, a global charity warned Wednesday. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said more than 1 million people were displaced by floods, conflict and …
Read More »Somalia: 116,000 Displaced amid ‘worsening’ drought
MOGADISHU — Over 116,000 Somalis have been displaced by extreme water shortages since October 2020, according to a joint statement issued on Sunday by the UN and horn of African country. “Most parts of the country are facing critical water shortages, with more than 50 districts facing moderate to severe drought …
Read More »Fate of thousands of refugees in Kenya remains uncertain
GENEVA –– The fate of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Kenya hangs in the balance as UN officials try to dissuade Kenyan authorities from closing two camps that many have called home for the past three decades. The Kenyan government announced its intention to close the Dadaab and Kakuma …
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Somali Observatory for Humanitarian Affairs The Voice of Reality.. The Eye of Humanitarian Truth in Somalia