SOMALIA: Aid efforts under threat in tense Beletweyne
NAIROBI, 21 April 2009 (IRIN) - Humanitarian workers are worried that clashes in Somalia’s central town of Beletweyne, 340km north of Mogadishu, and the current rains, could hinder aid efforts in the area.
Hundreds of families have been displaced by the clashes, pitting militias of the Union of Islamic Courts, which supports the Government of National Unity, against the pro-opposition Hisbul-Islami.
Mahamud Hassan Guled, a senior public information assistant for the UN World Food Programme (WFP-Somalia), said on 21 April the agency had distributed 3675.52 metric tonnes of food to 181,314 people in Hiiran Region in the last two weeks but “our food distributions to the west of Beletweyne town were affected by the conflict on Monday [20 April]”.
However, Guled said WFP was hopeful the distributions would continue.
Beletweyne was reported to be tense on 21 April. Seven people have been killed and 35 wounded, said a local journalist who requested anonymity. “There is fear in the town that the clashes could resume any time."
Talks
The two sides, he added, were in talks mediated by religious leaders and traditional elders but movement around the town was still difficult.
Hussein Ilmi, one of the mediating elders, told IRIN on 21 April that both sides had agreed to mediation “and there is no shooting currently going on”.
“We have succeeded in moving the sides apart. They are no longer facing each other.”
Ilmi said Hawl Wadag District, to the west of the town, was the worst affected area. “I cannot give you an exact figure but at least hundreds of families have fled their homes.”
Sheikh Abdirahman Ibrahim, the governor of the Hiiran Region, told IRIN the fighting was prompted by the opposition group, which is opposed to the restoration of law and order.
He said Hisbul Islami was obstructing “any attempt to restore security in the region”.
Ibrahim said the fighting was hindering aid efforts: “I am aware that food distribution was disrupted yesterday by this [fighting] but our ultimate aim is to make sure that everyone, including those assisting our people, is safe here,” he said.
Conciliatory noises
Mohamed Abdullahi of Hisbul Islami told IRIN that elders were in the process of finding a solution.
Abdullahi said his forces had not started the clashes. “We are defending our positions and we are open to any reasonable solution the Elders come up with.”
Ibrahim, however, said the fighting was likely to continue “so long as there were two opposed armed groups in the town. We have told our brothers to join the administration and support peace for our people.”
The journalist who preferred anonymity told IRIN the elders had managed to broker a lull in the fighting, “but whether they find a lasting solution is a different matter”.
ah/cb
Copyright © IRIN 2009
This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.
IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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