Thousands of Somalis Flee Fighting in Capital

[antiimperialist]

Source: Washington Post

Food Increasingly Scarce in Mogadishu

By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 2, 2007; Page A17

NAIROBI, Nov. 1 -- Nearly 90,000 people have fled fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu in recent days, a mass exodus that comes on top of the 20,000 or so who have left each month since spring, U.N. officials said Thursday.

The seaside city has lost about a third of its population, with entire neighborhoods all but abandoned, markets frequently closed and food increasingly scarce, according to remaining residents.

Fighting between Ethiopian-backed Somali government troops and insurgents has raged for months, but clashes that began over the weekend have been the most intense since Ethiopian tanks and attack helicopters assaulted the city in March and April, officials said.

...

Despite an authoritarian approach that human rights groups say has included summary executions, house-to-house raids and arbitrary detentions, Yusuf and his Ethiopian backers have failed to subdue an insurgency composed mostly of Islamic fighters and clan militias.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110101091.html?hpid=artslot

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This invasion by Ethiopia was incited by the United States under Bush, who is not new to making things worse in nations he chooses to "liberate".

[Mojorabbit]

1. I can't imagine what it must

be like. To pack up what you can carry, gather your children, and then flee to an unfamiliar place with all the uncertainty that accompanies the move. Where will you stay?, will you be able to find work, food. It must be awful.

[Supersedeas]

2. Condi, paging Dr. Condi....do we have a competent doctor in the house?