More than 22,000 people including over 11,000 children have been displaced in Mahaas in central Somalia due to intense fighting that has left thousands cut off without basic services, Save the Children said.
Clashes between local militia, government forces and non-state armed groups in the Hiraan region have intensified in the last two months, with a significant escalation on July 27 displacing over 22,800 people [1] in Mahaas district alone, more than half of them children [2].
Displaced people are living in nearby villages with host families in overcrowded conditions or in open grazing lands without basic services.
Save the Children in a statement said it is concerned that 21 health sites they support are currently suspended due to the ongoing conflict. This includes a stabilisation centre for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Health facility staff have fled the area, leaving families and children without care.
At the time of the escalation in fighting, over 150 children who were receiving treatment for severe acute malnutrition in Mahaas and surrounding villages fled with their families to Bulo Burte and Beledweyne. Save the Children said its teams in Beledweyne are trying to trace these children and get them back on treatment.
The children’s charity also said the conflict has resulted in damage to water sources, obstructed road access, and led to a significant increase in food insecurity, with families losing access to grazing land, markets, and clean water.
Women, children, and vulnerable groups are lacking decent housing and psychological discomfort while Save the Children is deeply concerned over increased reports that young boys are being recruited to fight in the conflict by actors on both sides.
Across central and southern Somalia, conflict has displaced about 100,000 people in the Hiraan and Gedo regions in the past two months, according to humanitarian partners and local authorities, placing additional strain on already limited local resources with shortages of shelter, food, clean water, and healthcare.
The aid agency said the recent displacement adds another crisis to a community already battered by a severe drought which has led to a sharp increase in malnutrition, with children lacking access to life saving health services due to aid cuts.
Earlier this year 32 Save the Children supported health facilities were closed due to aid cuts in Hiran region.
WN/as/APA