Somalia's civil war, which started in 1991, has generated massive movements of people within Somalia (1.5 million) and to neighbouring countries (Kenya, Yemen, Ethiopia, Burundi, Uganda, Djibouti). Since May, violence in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has forced over 250,000 people to flee their homes. More than 500,000 internally displaced people live in makeshift shelters in and around Afgooye, making it the area with the highest concentration of internally displaced people in the world. Every day, new settlements are established despite the lack of shelter material, water and other basic services.
Here are two of their stories:
Sadiyo's story:
After months of violent confrontations between government forces and armed opposition groups, Sadiyo Hussein Haji, 39, her elderly mother and six children could not stand it anymore. In May 2009, they left Mogadishu. "My mother is ailing and she could not stand the constant sound of gunfire. The children also had difficulties sleeping at night," she says.
During the conflict, her husband and two children, a girl aged 14 and a 16-year-old boy, went missing. "We stayed behind in our house for five days waiting to see whether they would return," recalls Sadiyo. Unfortunately none of the missing family members showed up and Sadiyo decided to leave. Being so poor, she could not afford to hire a minibus for her family. After two days of walking, they managed to reach a relatively safe place in a settlement for internally displaced people.
But things were not easy in Ceelasha settlement. She had no money to rent a place to live and buy food. "We were reduced to begging. My mother was given a small shelter because of her poor health." Fortunately, the family has recently been resettled to a recently constructed camp hosting new arrivals.
Hilowley's Story:
"I was afraid of being killed in the bomb blasts. One of the explosions injured my leg. I had to flee from my home in Mogadishu on foot, with my leg hurting. On my way I saw many people had been killed or injured. Everything in my home district was damaged or destroyed by fire, so I couldn't take anything with me." Hilowley, a mother of seven, Alla Amin settlement for internally displaced people, Afgooye, central Somalia.
Since May, renewed clashes between government forces and armed opposition groups have forced more than a quarter-of-a-million Somalis out of their homes in Mogadishu. Like many other residents of the Somali capital, Hilowley decided to run for her life with the rest of her family. She ended up in the so-called Afgooye corridor, some 30 kilometres west of Mogadishu.
