By Xinhua
Nairobi : An estimated 8,000 Somalis have fled escalating violence in Somali capital Mogadishu as growing tension and insecurity soars in the Horn of Africa nation, the UN humanitarian agency has said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Saturday that 126,000 others have moved to other regions between February and May this year.
“The unpredictable insecurity in Mogadishu created uncertainty among residents with about 8,000 moving during June while 126,000 others moved to other regions between February and May 2007,” OCHA said.
It said that some Somalis who have been evicted from the state property such as ministerial buildings, police stations or even electric power plants face the same threat.
The transitional government of Somalia, which has been struggling to improve security, has to date evicted 2,800 people in order to restore the buildings to public use.
“An additional 2,800 people evicted from public buildings are leaving in appalling conditions, some homeless and resorting to begging on the streets,” OCHA said.
Some families had been living at such sites since fleeing their homes in 1991, when warlords overthrew former ruler Mohammed Siad Barre before turning on each other.