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'Africa's bloodiest conflict'
02/06/2006 09:45 - (SA)
Geneva - Somalia is fast turning into Africa's bloodiest conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.
"It is, in terms of victims of direct violence, certainly one of, if not the worst context," said ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger, referring to conflicts in Africa.
Kellenberger made the distinction between the killed and wounded and those who suffer indirectly through displacement or other consequences.
His comments came as the ICRC - which is unique among humanitarian agencies in focusing predominantly on conflict areas - released its 2005 annual report, which effectively acts as a barometer of violence around the world.
From being the 11th most costly theatre of operations last year for the humanitarian agency, the isolated and anarchic east African nation will be the fourth in 2006, alongside Israel and the Palestinian Territories, the ICRC said.
Conflict has escalated
Kellenberger underlined that the violence in Somalia had escalated sharply in recent months, especially in the south and the capital, Mogadishu.
Hospitals supported by the ICRC have cared for 1 700 casualties since February, 1 000 of them in May alone, and there is little sign that the situation will ease, he warned.
The ICRC is considering boosting its surgical staff in Somalia.
Hospital takeover
On Tuesday the agency protested about the takeover of Mogadishu's main hospital by a US-backed alliance of local warlords, warning that it was deeply concerned about the impact on the 55 remaining patients.
Sudan, and Darfur - where violence is compounded by number of the people who have been forced to flee their homes - and the conflict involving the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda "remain very worrying", Kellenberger said.
The strife handled by the Geneva-based humanitarian agency in Africa typified a trend observed worldwide in 2005. Almost all the conflicts fought last year were internal conflicts rather than international ones.
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