From: Yemane Natnael (yemane_natnael@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Oct 04 2008 - 12:45:49 EDT
Somalia fighting kills at least 80 civilians, says UN
GENEVA, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 80 civilians
died and more than 100 others were wounded last week after fighting in
the Somali capital of Mogadishu, the United Nations said on Friday.
At least 110 wounded people were
admitted to two main surgical referral hospitals in Mogadishu in three
days, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The number of those wounded is
suspected to be higher as reports are so far unavailable from other
hospitals and clinics in Mogadishu, Byrs told a news briefing in
Geneva.
According to OCHA, an estimated
15,000 people were displaced following the fighting, some moved to
safer districts within the Mogadishu city, while others fled to the
Afgooye corridor, joining more than 300,000 internally displaced
persons.
Some 3.2 million people, or 43
percent of Somalia's entire population, are in dire need of
humanitarian assistance, and the country is short of 231 million U.S.
dollars out of 646 million U.S. dollars required to cover the needs of
the people.
The situation has also been
exacerbated by drought and high food prices, coupled with the collapse
of the Somali currency and continuing instability.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/04/content_10146338.htm
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