NAIROBI, 9 June 2009: Fighting in parts of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has trapped many residents and made them inaccessible to the help they need to survive, civil society sources said on 9 June.
“There are people who have been stuck in their homes for the last three weeks; they are terrified, hungry and have no access to any help,” Asha Sha’ur, a civil society activist, told IRIN.
She added: “Those who are left in the city have little choice except to wait and hope that the violence around them does not get closer. Some of the trapped residents cannot afford to flee while others are too afraid to leave Mogadishu.”
In recent weeks, Mogadishu has been a battleground for troops loyal to the weak government of the western-backed President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and a variety of armed opposition groups, chief among them al-Shabab, which now controls much of the south and centre of the country, where it has imposed sharia law. The fighting has displaced almost 120,000 people since 7 May.
Læs videre på: www.irinnews.org
