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Somalia: MH teams arrive in Mogadishu

Countries
Somalia
Sources
MHI
Publication date

MH Emergency Relief Teams (from Sudan) arrived in Mogadishu on Monday 16th April, a day before the fighting escalated to the current levels. They have reported that:

"Heavy indiscriminate shelling is pounding the Somali capital Mogadishu almost continuously, as government troops attempt to wipe out the Islamist groups in the city.

"All those that have the means of fleeing have done so already or are doing so now, creating the largest mass exodus from Mogadishu since 1991. Scores of people, mostly the poor who cannot leave, are being killed daily and at least 500 people have been killed since our arrival. Corpses are littering the streets decaying in the summer heat and cholera is already widespread in some areas."

MH teams have been distributing food and medical aid to the displaced people gathering in villages surrounding Mogadishu since the beginning of March 2007. Currently MH teams are working in the Anole area, 40km from central Mogadishu, helping feed around 1,000 families who have fled the capital. Medical aid is focused in the main towards women and infants. Over 3,000 children, 500 of whom were under five years of age, have been served already.

Mogadishu and some of the surrounding town are scenes of despair, people fleeing their homes with what little they have. Thousands are living under the trees and sleeping on the streets.

Contact:

Mr Shahid Bashir
Muslim Hands, 148 Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham. NG7 5JE
Tel: +44 (0)115 911 7222
Email: shahid@muslimhands.org