An estimated 8 000 people have fled Mogadishu since last weekend’s clashes, the heaviest this year in the Somali capital, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday.
About 700 000 people have already fled the coastal capital over the past year, sparking one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The latest fighting ”has sparked a fresh exodus of an estimated 8 000 people”, the UNHCR said in a statement.
The flight of thousands of civilians from the war-wracked city ”further aggravates the situation in a country where over one million people are already internally displaced”.
”Many of those fleeing the capital have sought safety in the bush or on the road leading to the small town of Afgooye … which has more than 250 000 displaced civilians already living in precarious conditions,” the UNCHR said. — AFP