UNHCR Operation highlights

*Somalia is the country generating the third highest number of refugees in the world, after Afghanistan and Iraq.
* Somali people are facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today. One in three Somalis is in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and one in every three children living in the South-Central region is malnourished.
* UNHCR leads protection and emergency relief interventions targeting almost 1.36 million IDPs, in addition to delivering protection and assistance to over 2,100 refugees in Somalia.

General Situation

Somalia generates the third highest number of refugees in the world (after Afghanistan and Iraq). As at 14 June 2012, there were 992,488 Somali refugees in the region, mainly hosted in Kenya, Yemen, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tanzania and Uganda and almost 1.36 millionSomalis internally displaced within the country, settled mainly in the South-Central region.

44,734 Somalis have so far sought refuge in neighboring countries in 2012 while in Mayalone, another 39,000were internally displaced, mainly in South Central Somalia, in particular from the capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia is the most affected country within the Horn of Africa by the ongoing drought, widely regarded as the worst in 60 years. Consecutive seasonal rain failures have led to sky-rocketing food prices,in a country already devastated by two decades of civil war.

An estimated 3.7 million Somalis are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Increasingly, Somalis are leaving their homes, walking thousands of kilometres in search of food, most of them ending up in IDP settlements within Somalia and refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia,in extremely malnourished conditions.

Since the fall of the Siad Barre’s regime in 1991, Somalia fell into the hands of different militias, who divided the country along clan lines. At least 15 attempts have been made to re-establish a national government, the last of which brought to power Sheik Shariif Ahmedin January 2009 through the Transitional Federal Government(TFG).However, armed opposition groups continuetocontrol large parts of the county.

Most of Somalia continues to be in security level 5 (high), with Mogadishu and other areas on level 6 (extreme). Ongoing conflict continues to restrict humanitarian access and hamper delivery of life- saving assistance.

Distributions of emergency / temporary shelter materials and other relief items and protection cum livelihood interventions are the activities carried out by UNHCR in favour of IDPs.

As of 8 June, UNHCR has distributed xxx emergency assistance packages (EAPs) for xxx people in Mogadishu and other districts within southern Somalia. These EAPs include kitchen sets, sleeping mats and plastic sheeting that would aid the most vulnerable population in crisis.