NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United Nations says 204,000 Somalis have fled the capital of Mogadishu since clashes between Islamist insurgents and government troops intensified in May.
AP — No one knows how many remain trapped in the battle-scarred seaside city and Tuesday’s U.N. statement offered no estimate. Mogadishu was believed to have 2 million residents in 2007, but up to half that number have since fled.
Some Somalis have moved several times. Men wielding mortars and machine-guns terrorize the city but camps for the displaced are severely overstretched. Families end up sleeping outside with little food or water in conditions that are freezing at night and sweltering by day.
Insurgents have been battling the government since an Islamist administration was overthrown in 2006. Somalia has not had a functioning government for 18 years.
