Over quarter million people displaced in Somalia: UN

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - Over a quarter million Somalis have been displaced largely due to drought and conflict in Somalia in January-July period of this year, the UN humanitarian agencies said on Tuesday.

Most of the conflict-related displacement occurred in Lower Shabelle region where armed operations by Somali security forces backed by international partners against the Al-Shabaab group resumed in April 2019, according to Protection Return and Monitoring Network, a project implemented led by the UN Refuges Agency in partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council.

"More than a quarter of a million Somalis have been displaced between January and July this year largely due to drought and conflict," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Somalia in a Twitter statement.

"More than 100,000 people were newly displaced by drought in 2019. This is 50 per cent lower than recorded for the same period in 2018. However, an increase was reported in July with an estimated 28,000 people newly displaced - a 57 per cent increase compared to June," the statement said.

Armed conflict and insecurity have also uprooted an estimated 126,000 people from their homes as of July, it added.