15 000 Somalis forced to flee

2008-03-31 09:55

Nairobi - Relentless violence in Somalia has forced at least 15 000 to flee to neighbouring states since the start of the year, said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In a statement received on Sunday, the UNHCR said many of the refugees are fleeing to Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan "to escape the violence engulfing many parts of their homeland".

Some 8 000 had entered Kenya, 4 000 entered Ethiopia, 2 000 entered Djibouti and 1 300 made their way into Sudan, it added.

Thousands of people, many of them civilians, had died there and hundreds of thousands were displaced over the past year in violence between Ethiopian-backed government troops and insurgents.

Ethiopia's military came to the rescue of the embattled Somali transitional government in late 2006 to oust an Islamist militia that briefly controlled large parts of the country and imposed strict Sharia law.

The UNHCR report came days after 39 top international aid agencies warned that the war-scarred nation had become too dangerous for its workers to help more than one million civilians living rough.

Somalia had lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre paved the way for factional clashes that had defied numerous bids to restore stability.

- AFP