MOGADISHU, June 23, 2009 (AFP) - Fierce fighting between forces loyal to Somalia's embattled government and a hardline insurgency have displaced 159,000 people in six weeks, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.
"The conflict between insurgent groups and government forces has displaced 159,000 people, since the start of the latest fighting on 7 May," the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.
It said that an estimated 26,000 people had fled their homes in Mogadishu over the past four days alone.
On May 7, the Shebab, a hardline Islamist armed group, and Hezb al-Islam, a more political group, launched an unprecedented nationwide offensive against the administration of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
The internationally-backed Sharif has been holed up in his presidency quarters, protected by African Union peacekeepers as his forces were unable to reaasert their authority on the capital.
Around 300 people are confirmed to have been killed in the latest violence, many of them civilians.
Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have fled their homes over the past three years of violence involving hardline Islamist movements and many more in total over the country's 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil chaos.
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Received by NewsEdge Insight: 06/23/2009 14:12:33
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