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Somalia

Somalia: CIVILIANS WOUNDED IN THE FIGHTING, DOCTORS DENOUNCE "HOSPITALS ON BRINK OF COLLAPSE"

The conditions of civilians recovering in hospitals is "dramatic" and their conditions, because of the lack of medicine and medical equipment "is a serious cause of concern", said Mohammed Yousuf, director of the Medina hospital in Mogadishu, one of the largest in Somalia. He noted that "at the current state, there are about 150 civilians that have been badly wounded and who need cures and medicines and the situation of care facilities throughout the city is collapsing". A report from the Mogadishu ambulance service shows that 4,260 civilians have been killed in the past 22 months in the Somali conflict. "In 2009 alone, 6,753 civilians were wounded, 1,553 of whom children and 2,027 women, while since January 2010 to October, there have been 5,814 people taken to the various hospitals in the city. As of the past ten months, AMISOM troops (African Union peacekeepers) and Somali government forces have been trying to quell the armed insurgency, whose goal is to overthrow the fragile federal transition government. Humanitarian groups said that many of the civilian casualties are caught in the crossfire of the gun battles between the various combatants.