“Since May 22 to date, the [United Nations refugee agency] UNHCR Somalia Population Movement Tracking (PMT) system has recorded 9,200 displacements from Afgoye due to military activity in the area,” the refugee agency said in a recent report.
This is while thousands of Somalis continue to move into the capital Mogadishu from Elasha Biyaha and Afgoye which have been placed under the control of the country’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
Meanwhile, United Nations humanitarian agencies have been taking up new projects in order to deal with the thousands of people streaming into the capital.
On Saturday, Somali government forces backed by African Union troops took full control of Afgoye after hundreds of al-Shabab fighters vacated the area following a few hours of resistance.
Afgoye is a fertile area located 30 kilometers from Mogadishu.
The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab fighters for the past five years and is propped up by a 12,000-strong African Union force from Uganda, Burundi, and Djibouti.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
SZH/JR
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