UN condemns shelling of Mogadishu hospital

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Friday condemned the mortar shelling of a Mogadishu hospital and called for full access for relief aid to the thousands of civilians fleeing the fighting in war-scarred city.

"We deplore the indiscriminate shelling of a medical facility," said UNICEF Representative in Somalia Christian Balslev-Olesen. "It is an action that is totally unacceptable and one for which no justification can be given."

The UN aid agency said gunmen attacked the Save Our Souls (SOS) hospital in Mogadishu, the only clear medical facility in the city, halting its operations.

UNICEF says its ability to deliver much-needed supplies is also hampered by the continued fighting.

"We cannot access our warehouses in Mogadishu and we cannot effectively reach the people who need our assistance the most," Balslev-Olesen added.

Some 340,000 have fled the fighting in Mogadishu since February. There have been reports of attacks by bandits and once arriving in communities, the displaced are overwhelming the existing social services.

Acute watery diarrhoea is a growing concern as public sanitation systems are strained. Further health risks continue in Mogadishu, where insecurity in some areas has hindered collection of dead and decomposing bodies.

"Where is the accountability in this conflict? Every day thousands of displaced people - most of them women and children - are living a nightmare of violence. Lacking food and shelter, water and sanitation, they are enduring a perilous and intolerable existence," the aid official lamented.

UN aid agencies say Central and Southern Somalia have reported 16,597 cases of acute diarrhoea since January, including 37 confirmed cases of cholera and 593 deaths as of April 15.

UNICEF reports that more than 5,664 cases of acute diarrhoea have been identified in Mogadishu since April 7. The reports say at least 24 cholera cases have been recorded. It is suspected that over 92 people have died.

Child protection monitors in Mogadishu report that children have been victims of indiscriminate shooting and shelling.

Displacement is also forcing women to search for food, water and shelter, forcing them to leave their children unattended. UNICEF is mobilizing and supporting partner organizations to identify and reunite with their families the hundreds of children who have lost their parents during the fighting.

The UN refugee agency said over 365,000 civilians have fled Mogadishu since February. Of these, over 147,000 have gone to the Shabelles (84,000 in Lower Shabelle and 63,000 in Middle Shabelle); nearly 109,000 have gone to Galgaduud, nearly 40,000 to Mudug, nearly 28,000 to Hiraan, and nearly 26,000 to Bay.

The UNHCR has also been told that land-owners are charging refugees to sit under the shade of their trees on the road from Mogadishu.

The Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) controlled Mogadishu for six months last year -reuniting the capital for the first time since 1991.

They were toppled last December by Ethiopia-backed government forces. The Islamist fighters have been joined by gunmen from the Hawiye clan, which does not back the government.

Somalia has not had a functional government since 1991. Peace talks led to the formation of a transitional government in 2004, but it has so far failed to take full control of the country.

Ethiopian troops announced they had begun to withdraw, to be replaced by an African Union peacekeeping force, but only 1,200 of the 8,000 troops the AU says it needs have been deployed.

Source: Xinhua