EDITOR’S NOTE: Peace is returning to Somalia after two years of terror by the U.S. Woyanne regime. Meles and gang who are ruling Ethiopia are the worst terrorists in the world. They have caused the death of over 10,000 civilians and in Somalia alone in the past 2 years.
By Lisa Schlein | VOA
The U.N. refugee agency reports for the first time in two years, displaced Somalis are beginning to return to their devastated neighborhoods in the capital Mogadishu. The UNHCR says the returns in the last two weeks follow the withdrawal of Ethiopian Woyanne troops from Mogadishu.
In the past few years, Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu has been the scene of some of the worst fighting in the country. Tens of thousands of terrified civilians have fled their homes. They prefer to live in squalid makeshift camps than to chance the violence and insecurity of a capital at war.
But, now, the U.N. refugee agency says there are signs that the situation may be changing. It says more than 16,000 internally displaced people who had fled to various parts of Somalia have returned to three districts in the capital.
UNHCR spokesman, Ron Redmond, tells VOA the three western districts were scenes of some of the worst violence and human rights abuses witnessed in Mogadishu some months ago.
“The returnees are families who say they intend to stay for good in the city,” he said. “What we have seen in the past is maybe the heads of households, men going back and checking out their houses and their property, but not bringing their families back. Now the whole family is going back.”
“So, that is a good sign. The bad news is that despite these returns, the security situation in Mogadishu remains extremely volatile. And, only this week, some 10,000 civilians fled from two districts in northeast Mogadishu to escape advancing Islamic militia who wanted to seize control of the neighborhood,” he continued.
Redmond says most of these 10,000 displaced people have moved to other neighborhoods within Mogadishu or to the outskirts of the city. So, he says, a lot of instability remains, with some people returning to Mogadishu and others fleeing the city.
For now, he says most of the city’s residents who fled Mogadishu are still reluctant or fearful to return to their homes. The UNHCR reports an estimated 300,000 internally displaced people live in makeshift shelters in the Afgooye area, some 30 kilometers west of Mogadishu.
Redmond says conditions there are very hard. Nevertheless, he says the IDPs are afraid conditions in Mogadishu will be even worse. He says they are deterred from returning by lack of water, sanitation and health services and the threat of renewed fighting in the capital.
About one million Somalis have fled Mogadishu since February 2007, when fighting erupted between the Ethiopian Woyanne-backed Transitional Federal Government soldiers and rebels. The UNHCR says 1.3 million Somalis are displaced within their own country.
FORUM | 3 Comments
All of a sudden everybody is talking about peace prevailing in Somalia because a Moderate Slamic leader was elected president. How can peace prevail when the major force that drove weyane out of the country was not included in it. Peace comes only when all Somalis work for it, not imposed by foreign powers. The Somalis themselves will decide what kind of government they want, not weyane and it’s backers.
[Reply]
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:41 AM
Whoever wrote the first half of this article apparently didn’t read the second half, and the Editor’s comments are absolutely bewildering. Some 16,000 Somalis returned to Mogadishu because now its safe due to the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops, except that 10,000 Somalis then fled the city because a radical Islamic militia is warring to take it over. It doesn’t exactly sound like “peace is returning to Somalia.” Rather it seems that one occupying force is replacing another, and the terrorist credentials of the Islamic insurgents are certainly as good as those of any Ethiopian troops.
[Reply]
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 PM
The term MODERATE is a deceptive term used by those who manipulate the media…under the direction of the CIA affiliated organizations and what have you, to sell to the international community those whom they designate to be loyal SERVANTS for their agendas of domination and exploitation.
Such deceptive presentations was not more evident than that of the Bush Administration when actual heads of terrorist states, like that of the Woyanes, have to the contrary been protected as reformers.
It is rather preposterous to call a Parliament when there was nothing that resembles one. As was seen in the Palestinian experience, despite a clear choice of the people-Hamas movement– they tried to shove what they call reformers down their throat when they spit them back into their EVIL faces.
Despite, the exaggerated smear against the brave AlShebab, the Somali people, if given the chance, will restart the process that was deliberately interrupted in 2006 by the Masters of the Evil Woyanes.
It is only a new approach–respect to and work with the real people on the ground– by the new Obama Administration that could make the term Hope meaningful, at least, in the eyes of the Somali people.
[Reply]
February 5th, 2009 at 2:11 AM