(ERGO) – Over 1,000 families displaced by fighting in southern Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region are in need of food and other emergency supplies, according to local officials.
The families from villages of Garas-weyn, Kullanta, Bulo-Banan, and Basra, all located west of Bal’ad, were displaced by clashes between Somali forces and Al-Shabaab militants and are now camping in Bala’d town.
Bal’ad assistant district commissioner in charge of social affairs, Hassan Sheikh Ahmed, told Radio Ergo that the town is still facing an influx of displaced people as military operations continue in the region.
With no established IDP camps in Bala’ad town, some of the families are forced to depend on relatives in the town while others spend the night outside.
Arfon Mohamed Malabow, a widow, transported her five children from Danig-Balow, 10 km away, but could not raise the money to pay the auto-rickshaw owner. She told Radio Ergo her relatives had to pay.
“The neighbours have provided the children with something to eat. We have no food and money. We have nothing here,” she said.
The displaced have no means of earning a living, having been forced from their farms.
Arfon, 45, worked as a casual farm labourer in her village. Before fleeing, she described three consecutive days of clashes between the military and Al-Shabaab that kept them sheltering in fear inside their house.
“I had no farm or livestock. I did casual work on farms but after the clashes broke out, I could not go to work and my children were at a risk of starving,” she said.
Abdirahman Abdullahi Salah, a herder, was among the families that fled Garasweyn, 15 km from Bal’ad. Hearrived with his family in town on Monday.
He left his 40 head of cattle with his brother who remained in the village, despite the ongoing fighting between Somali forces and Al-Shabaab.
“We were dependent on our livestock. Milk from our livestock was sufficient for my family. But now, my children have no milk to drink. I urge our brothers to help us,” he said.
Bal’ad authorities say they do not have the capacity to provide emergency needs for the families and called for assistance to the people displaced.
