Hundreds of people who fled from the conflict in Gedo’s Burdhubo district are calling for aid, Radio Ergo’s local reporter said. Mohamed Ali, one of the IDPs, said about 2,000 families were now living in Suriya village, seven kilometres from their homes in Burdhubo.
They fled the district when Somali National Army and AMISOM forces launched a wide-scale offensive against the militant group Al-Shabaab along the Somalia-Ethiopia border region last month.
Though the district is under the control of the federal government, the displaced families say Burdhubo is still unsafe for them to go back to their homes. “It is the hot season and we can’t get food and water,” Ali told Radio Ergo.
There are no vehicles entering Burdhubo and the villages surrounding it. This has led to a food scarcity, with prices of remaining item soaring to more than double.
A displaced mother with several children, Habibo Mohamud, told Radio Ergo’s local reporter the displaced families are sleeping in the cold, out in the open, without adequate food and no medical care. “We have no protection from the sun or cold,” she said.
