AFRICA: SOMALIA: SEVERE DROUGHT CAUSES EMERGENCY

Agenzia Fides REPORT - A severe drought in the southern Somali town of Dobley is worsening the living conditions of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs). This is what is said in a statement by the Jesuit Refugee Service released by the Catholic Information Service for Africa. Due to the lack of water, food and housing , the already precarious state of the population of IDPs is deteriorating . The displaced are hundreds of families who have escaped from the capital, Mogadishu, and are forced to flee again since Dobley has become a battleground between the Islamic opposition group Al-Shabab and a pro-government militia known as Raskambone Group. The town of Dobley, near the border with Kenya, is also a transit area for Somalis seeking to enter Kenya as refugees. The city has fallen into the hands of the Raskambone Group after two weeks of heavy fighting. "Most people are heading towards the nearby villages of Diif, Dagila, Tabta and Hawina”, is read in a statement from the spokesman for the pro-government group, who added that "the inhabitants had already been seriously affected by an earlier drought and had not received any help. Now both the refugees and the people are in desperate need of help”. In the last six weeks because of armed conflict in southern and central Somalia 33 000 displaced have been registered.

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