Contextual Background

Pattern in Population Change

Organized large-scale relocation from the Transit Centre began on 05 August 2011 and completed early September 2011, during which time Hilaweyn Camp has grown rapidly

Areas of Origin

50% are from Gedo, 31% are from Bay, 16% are from Bakol, remaining are from various other locations in Somalia.

Cultural Background

Sunni Muslim

Contextual Background

Pattern in Population Change

Organized large-scale relocation from the Transit Centre began on 24 June 2011 and ended 16 July 2011, during which time the Camp has grown rapidly.

Areas of Origin

53% of residents are from Bay, 30% are from Gedo, 13% are from Bakol, remaining are from various areas in Somalia.

Cultural Background

Sunni Muslim Majority (80%) are May May speakers from Rahanweyn clan, 12% are Mahatiri speakers from Maheren clan and the remaining are from various other Somali clans.

Main Occupations

Nairobi, 9 May 2013 – Ever since the Kenya government decided last December to order all refugees living in urban areas to move to camps and ceased registration of asylum seekers in urban areas, fear and hardship have descended on the Kenyan capital. In particular Somali refugees, as well as Kenyans of Somali origin, have been subjected to increased harassment. Despite efforts by Kenyan NGOs to block the implementation of the directive, hospitality to refugees is at an all-time low.

Somalia has suffered two decades of conflict, worsening droughts and heavy flooding.

Militia groups control significant parts of the country, which makes it difficult for aid workers to bring help in these areas.

Whilst a humanitarian response continues to be vital in order to save lives, long term, sustainable solutions are key to addressing Somalia’s endemic political, security and socio-economic challenges.

Somalia's new government is beginning to build confidence in its ability to progress the country's recovery. The UK opened its new embassy – a collection of shipping containers painted white – in Mogadishu last week, and other European countries are following suit. Somalia's progress raises an immediate question: is it now time for hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people living in the region to return?

Read the full report

Operation Highlights

Somalia is the country generating the third highest number of refugees in the world, after Afghanistan and Iraq.

UNHCR leads protection and emergency relief interventions targeting 700,000 IDPs out of a total IDP population estimated at 1.1 million and over 2,300 refugees in Somalia.

1) Political and Security

South-central:

A combination of fighting and famine has left 1.1 million people displaced. In Mogadishu alone there are more than 500 camps where families eke out a meagre living under scraps of tarpaulin and cloth supported on stick frames.

Read the full report on the BBC.

1) Political and Security

South-central: