[31/August/2010]

GENEVA, Aug 31 (Saba) -- The The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuseday that hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu and other towns since 2007 are living in increasingly harsh conditions, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

"The situation is extremely critical for the displaced," said Pascal Mauchle, head of the ICRC delegation for Somalia in a press release launched in Geneva. "People with virtually no belongings are coping through petty trade or by growing crops on small patches of land, and also thanks to the help of resident communities. But they cannot hope to cover more than their most urgent needs. They are extremely vulnerable to malnutrition and disease." He added.

"Large number of the displaced have settled in makeshift camps between Mogadishu and Afgoye. The ICRC has just completed a distribution of food in cooperation with the Somali Red Crescent Society to more than 55,000 people in that part of the country".Said the ICRC With each new outbreak of violence more and more people leave their homes.

In July of this year alone, 4,000 newly displaced entered the camps. In its food distribution, the ICRC gave priority to the most vulnerable people, especially the disabled and single mothers with children. The rations it distributed consisted of a two-month supply of beans, rice and oil.

Saba