Somali authorities have destroyed another IDP camp in Mogadishu hosting more than 1,000 families recovering from the prolonged drought, according to witnesses.
The camp, Kalkaal, in the city’s Deynile district, had been home for about seven months to families fleeing Lower Shabelle region, wracked by drought and clan conflict.
Faadumo Ali Guled, a mother of two daughters aged seven and nine, is now camped out in the open near the area known as KM13. Faadumo told Radio Ergo they were not given any warning to get off the land before the soldiers arrived on 29 January. She said she asked them why they were throwing them out of their houses but received no answer.
She migrated from Qoryoolay in Lower Shabelle region and feels unable to return home due to insecurity there.
Amino Jaylani has four children including a 10-day-old baby. They are sleeping by the side of the busy Mogadishu to Afgooye road. She told Radio Ergo that armed soldiers and people carrying metal cutters and other tools came and destroyed their shelters in Kalkaal camp. Those who tried to resist were kicked out.
The land is said to have been sold to private businessmen.
Real estate investment is booming in Mogadishu and private developers have been buying up land to construct hotels and other businesses. Profit-driven initiatives have been replacing the displacement camps, which are mostly located in the immediate outskirts of Mogadishu.
The commissioner of Daynile, Abdiweli Nur Farah, who spoke to Radio Ergo, denied the reports of the forced eviction from Kalkaal. The police spokesman, Colonel Qassim Ahmed Rooble, said the police were not part of the eviction.
Meanwhile, the Kalkaal families have joined thousands of other IDPs who were forcefully evicted from camps in KM13 by government soldiers at the end of December. They are getting some food from a temporary feeding station run by the Kahda district commission in association with Banadir local government.
The IDPs have not been allocated any alternative sites to erect new shelters.
