Fighting In Mogadishu Greets Relief Columns …
- July 28th, 2011
- Posted by EUEditor
In the hard world of the Horn of Africa there would seem to be no relent.
A day after the first United Nations aid was flown into the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday (27.7.11), intense fighting erupted in different parts of the divided city.
Initially the trouble was attributed to an attack by government forces on insurgents from the Islamist group, al-Shabab, who have been opposed to the entry of outside agencies, to distribute aid.
Other reports said troops from the African Union, on guard in Mogadishu, were involved.
Tanks were being used and shooting was taking place in several parts of the city; some civilians were getting caught in cross-fire.
Aid agencies have been struggling to get supplies to victims of remorseless drought and the violent conflict in the area; an estimated four-million Somalis are said to have become refugees, moving to look for food, hundreds of thousands walking to the war-torn capital city.
As many as eleven million are thought to be facing famine on a scale not seen since the drought crisis of the 1980s in the Horn of Africa.
See Euaustralia Online, “Horn Of Africa: new crisis”, 27.7.11.
Reference
Deutgscghe Welle, Bonn, “Food and security:Fighting breaks out as UN aid trickles into Somaliaâ€, 28.7.11. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15272890,00.html, (28.7.11).
Le Monde, Paris, Somalie : violents affrontements dans la capitale, (Violent exchanges in the Somali capital), 28.7.11. www.lemonde.fr, (28.7.11).