Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Somali Aid Agency Offices Looted.

Humanitarian organization ACF and Somali red cross and other aid agencies shut down relief programs in North Mogadishu Monday after armed gangs looted them of medicine, . Radios, vehicles including trucks and office equipment were taken. the pillaging of compounds run by the group, which is also known as Action against Hunger, was the latest in a series of attacks on the dwindling relief operations still trying to help Somali civilians. " The trucks bound for Central Somali regions were hijacked by "Alshabab fighters and the building security guards were tortured and taken hostage. according to Aid agencies The trucks are now believed to be in the Shabab's southern stronghold of Marka. these assaults directly affect the ability of humanitarian agencies to provide relief to a desperate civilian population," Mogadishu based Human Rights group said.

Somali´s Shabab militia and foreign fighters apparently linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network are behind some of the attacks, one of the aid groups said. Monday's attacks occurred in the Northern Abdiasisi neighborhood of Mogadishu. The two offices together supported child-nutrition program in six Somali district, according to Jowhar.com news. "Now there are no medical facilities for these people, so this is a desperate situation." a resident in the area said.

According to UN HCR Spokesman "The escalating conflict in Mogadishu is having a devastating impact on the city's population causing enormous suffering and massive displacement. By yesterday, the eight-week-long offensive led by the al-Shabab and Hisb-ul-Islam militia against government forces had driven a staggering 204,000 residents from their homes, making it the biggest exodus from the troubled Somali capital since the Ethiopian intervention in 2007.According to our local partners, fighting in the past week alone has killed some 105 people and injured 382." Thousands of Somalis have fled the country, joining millions of other refugees forced into neighboring Kenya by years of civil war.

Source: AmericanChronicle

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