Somali troops destroy aid camps for thousands of displaced people, leaving them homeless
Two weeks after being forcibly evicted from their shelters, thousands of vulnerable families are still living rough in the outskirts of Mogadishu.
Somali security forces went in and destroyed 23 camps for internally displaced people, housing more than 4,000 Somalis, on December 29 and 30 last year, according to the UN.
People say they woke up to bulldozers and soldiers demolishing their shelters. “We were not even given time to collect our belongings,” said Farhia Hussein, a mother of nine.
Two of my children went missing in the chaos ... thank God I found them two days later
“People were screaming and running in all directions. Two of my children went missing in the chaos. They are twin sisters, aged six – thank God I found them two days later.”
Hussein, 46, came to the city nine months ago from the Shebelle region. “I was a farmer but I lost everything to the drought and I cannot go back now because the security situation is terrible there,” she said.
“I never thought my own people would treat me this way in Mogadishu, I felt like a foreigner in my own country.”
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Unocha) said the destruction included health and sanitary facilities, schools, latrines and water points, at a cost of more than US$200,000 of donor money.