UNHCR Says Over 140,000 Somalis Displaced by Conflict, Insecurity in 4 Months

MOGADISHU, Xinhua: More than 140,000 people were internally displaced in Somalia in the past four months of 2024, mainly due to insecurity and conflict, the United Nations refugee agency said on Monday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said some 52,000 new internal displacements were monitored by the UNHCR-led Protection and Return Monitoring Network (PRMN) in April.

“Out of these (in April), 14,000 were caused by conflict or insecurity, 33,000 were due to floods, and 5,000 were due to other reasons,” the UNHCR said in its latest update on displacement issued in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

The PRMN recorded 15,280 displacements in the Bay region, the highest number of internal displacement departures in April, followed by the Mudug region, which recorded 12,940 due to conflict and insecurity. It also said Lower Juba (26,550) and Bay (8,770) regions recorded the highest displacement departures due to flooding.

The UN refugee agency said some 2.94 million Somalis were displaced in 2023. According to the UNHCR, Somalia is hosting 39,025 refugees and asylum-seekers as of April 30, among whom 66 percent are women and children.

“The majority of refugees and asylum-seekers, 65 percent, are from Ethiopia, followed by Yemen 29 percent, Syria 4 percent, and other countries 1 percent,” it said.

The UNHCR said since December 2014, it has supported 93,721 Somali refugees to return to Somalia. It also said about 42,984 Somalis were monitored as arriving spontaneously from Yemen since March 2015.