Prices of essential food items have risen sharply in Gedo’s besieged district of Burdhubo. The district which Somali government and AMISOM forces captured from Al-Shabaab last year has been under blockade ever since then.
The trucks and other vehicles stopped transporting foods and goods to the district because of threats by Al-Shabaab that they will be targeted if they break the group’s order that bans the transports from getting in of Burdhubo. The militant group controls the access roads and rural areas leading to the district.
The districts rely on foods transported from Mogadishu. “There is severe food shortage in the area and the residents are looking for way out of the district,” said Abdullahi Isse. Another resident Fadumo Aden Ahmed said the little food available in the area was smuggled from Luq district by business people using donkeys. Luq is 120km away from Burdhubo. But Isse said most of the residents could not buy that food because it is very expensive.
the price of food items including rice, wheat flour, sugar, spaghetti, which are the most consumed commodities in the districts have doubled in the six months alone. Ahmed said that a sack of flour rise to $56 while rice and sugar are currently sold at $80 and $60. All these food items doubled twice since the blockage began in April last year.
Burdhubo elders said most of those affected by the price rises are the recently displaced people in Gedo region. they warned that famine could hit the region if the price of basic commodities continues to soar.
