More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced between January and July in Somalia largely due to drought and conflict, the UN humanitarian agency said on Monday.
Citing figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and global charity, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)-led protection return and monitoring network (PRMN), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says more than 100,000 people were newly displaced by drought in 2019 and this is 50 percent lower than recorded for the same period in 2018.
However, says the UN agency, an increase was reported in July with an estimated 28,000 people newly displaced, a 57 per cent increase compared to June.
"Most of the conflict-related displacement occurred in Lower Shabelle where armed operations by Somali security forces backed by international partners against the al-Shabab group resumed in April 2019,"said the UNOCHA in its latest humanitarian bulletin.
Armed conflict and insecurity have also uprooted an estimated 126,000 people from their homes as of July, according to PRMN.
Conflict-induced displacement in 2019 has remained below levels observed during the same period in 2018 when 208,000 people were displaced, said the UN.
"Evictions, sometimes forced with little or no warning, also continued to rise with an estimated 134,000 displaced person affected in the first half of the year. Of these, some 108,000 people were evicted in Mogadishu alone," said the UNOCHA.
The report says humanitarian partners have continued to provide life-saving, livelihood support and to advocate for durable solutions for internally displaced persons.
"In July, the shelter cluster assisted nearly 33,000 persons with standard household kits comprising of plastic sheets, blankets, jerry cans, sleeping mats and kitchen sets," it said.
