U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 374
28 April - 4 May 2007


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Displaced trickle back to war-ravaged Mogadishu
SOMALIA: Displaced facing cholera threat
SOMALIA-YEMEN: Somali government hopes Puntland can help stem flow of
   would-be migrants


SOMALIA: War-related price hikes hit displaced

The fighting in Mogadishu has led to increases of between 30 and 70 
percent in the price of rental properties, transport, water and basic 
food and non-food items over the past four weeks, the Food Security 
Analysis Unit in Somalia said.

These sharp and unusual price increases are attributed to the slowdown 
in port activities, the reduction in the importation of goods through 
Mogadishu, increased costs associated with transportation, as well as 
the possible inflationary impact due to the high demand created by the 
influx of displaced people into urban areas.

All of which is created by widespread insecurity in Mogadishu and 
surrounding areas, roadblocks, port closures and marine piracy, which 
create difficulties for humanitarian access, the importation of food and 
non-food commodities and inter-regional trade flows in southern Somalia, 
said FSAU.


SOMALIA: Displaced trickle back to war-ravaged Mogadishu

Residents of Somalia's war-torn capital, Mogadishu, are slowly returning 
to the city days after fighting died down, but many are finding their 
homes destroyed or looted, witnesses said.

An estimated 1,000 families had returned to Mogadishu, a local 
journalist said while about 365,000 residents of Mogadishu fled the 
fighting between government forces, backed by Ethiopian troops and 
insurgents loyal to the ousted Union of Islamic Courts and clan 
militias, according to United Nations estimates.

The new mayor of Mogadishu, Muhammad Umar Habeb said his administration 
would do all it could to resettle the population.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71902


SOMALIA: Displaced facing cholera threat

An outbreak of cholera and acute watery diarrhoea is adding to the dire 
humanitarian conditions endured by the homeless in camps around 
Mogadishu, medical sources said on Monday.

"We have had 1,111 cases of cholera in our camp alone," said Hawa Abdi, 
a doctor, whose 26-hectare compound, 20km south of the capital, has been 
turned into a camp for displaced people. She said most of the patients 
were being cared for under trees.

If the mortality rate are still low, the displaced are getting weaker, 
she added, and diseases were likely to spread due to overcrowding and 
lack of proper sanitation facilities, and claim more lives.


SOMALIA-YEMEN: Somali government hopes Puntland can help stem flow of 
would-be migrants

The Somali consulate in Aden, southern Yemen, says the number of 
smugglers' boats carrying African migrants from Somalia to Yemen could 
decrease in future as the authorities in the self-declared autonomous 
region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, step up anti-trafficking 
actions.

Puntland has said many times that it is tackling the smugglers. It has 
made a number of arrests and confiscated boats and trucks but says it 
needs international help if it is to do more as many carry on dying 
while trying to reach Yemen.

The UNHCR estimates that since the beginning of 2007 more than 5,600 
people have landed on the Yemeni coast and at least 200 have died, with 
many others missing and presumed dead.


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