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[30 October 2006] - An estimated 750,000 people have fled their homes in Somalia since fighting began fifteen years ago. Since January alone, some 25,000 Somali refugees have found refuge in neighbouring Kenya, and the number of newcomers has risen dramatically in the last two months, with 200-300 people reportedly arriving daily. The security situation has become increasingly difficult for humanitarian workers to operate in, with many aid agencies pulling their staff out. Somalia is the only country in the world apart from Chechnya where humanitarian workers use armed escorts as a matter of routine. The country has been in turmoil since the collapse of Siad Barre’s government in 1991. The security situation has deteriorated in recent months since the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took control of the capital, Mogadishu, and a large part of south-central Somalia. The Courts are now engaged in a stand-off with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which was formed in 2004 in Kenya with the support of the international community. The TFG is the closest thing Somalia had had to a central government since 1991. It has little credibility in Somalia itself, where it is seen as advocating for international interests and because of it has failed to establish rule of law and provide basic services in areas under its control. It has also been riddled with internal disputes. The UIC is formed from a group of clan-based Sharia courts which were initially set up to combat lawlessness in Mogadishu. They are dominated by the Hawiye clan. They have gained respect in the country as one of the few sources of clamping down on street fighting and for providing some basic services, such as schools and hospitals. The rise of the Islamic Courts has been met with alarm by neighbouring Ethiopia and the wider international community. The US believes the group is harbouring members of Al-Qaeda, which it says bombed two US embassies in 1998. Ethiopia was targeted in terrorist attacks in the mid-1990s and, considering the Courts a security threat, it has stationed troops in the country. It has threatened to ‘crush’ the UIC should it make any advances against its ally, the TFG. The UIC has responded by declaring a defensive holy war, known as a jihad for which it is recruiting thousands of young men. The conflict escalated last Tuesday when Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, said that Ethiopia was “technically” at war with Somalia’s Islamists following the declaration of a defensive jihad. The tension between the two countries is threatening to engulf the peaceful territories of Somaliland and Puntland. Reconciliation talks held between the UIC, the TFG and the International Contact Group on Somalia (ICG) last week in Nairobi were due to continue today, 30 October, for a third round of talks. However, the UIC has today announced that it will not take part in talks until Ethiopia withdraws its troops. The talks have also been marred by outrage that the UIC has violated the terms of an agreement made during talks in Khartoum and concern over the militarisation of the country. The two groups had previously agreed, under talks brokered by the League of Arab States, to unite their forces and re-establish the Somali national army and police force, which the country has been without since 1991. [Sources: International Crisis Group, IRIN, AlertNet, UNHCR, BBC, UN] Further information Drought
In addition to years of fighting, Somalia has this year been hit by its worst drought in two decades, followed by heavy flooding, for more information, see: