IDPs on the Run again as Fighting Hits Beletweyne

IRIN – Thousands of internally displaced in Somalia’s central town of Beletweyne are on the move again following 10 days of fighting between rival Islamist militias, amid reports of continuing heavy shelling in parts of the town.

According to a humanitarian bulletin covering 8-15 January by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA Somalia), at least 30 people have been killed and 50 injured, mostly civilians, with many artillery shells landing on residential areas. OCHA could not confirm the number of displaced.

The clashes, which have prevented people accessing basic goods and services, pit Hisbul Islam, a group backed by Al-Shabab, against Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a, another Islamist group. Al-Shabab, which is opposed to the Transitional Federal Government, controls large areas of southern and central Somalia.

Read more