UN to relocate 80,000 displaced Somalis

The United Nations has announced plans to relocate some 80,000 displaced Somalis living in the war-torn capital Mogadishu, Press TV reports.

According to the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an estimated 200,000 to 360,000 people who fled the country’s famine, are currently living in more than 500 overcrowded camps.

In mid-2011, Somalia struggled with a deadly drought that claimed the lives of thousands and displaced millions of others inside and outside the country.

The new site is reported to offer the displaced victims larger living space, schools, clinics, and shops.

Meanwhile, the UN report has also cited violations such as discrimination, sexual abuse, physical attacks, restrictions on movement, and access to water and food in the African country.

A recent report shows that about 26,000 people lost their lives in Somalia during the 2011 famine. Half of those who died were reportedly children.

Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally-displaced people in the world.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab for the past five years and is propped up by a 10,000-strong African Union force from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, and Djibouti.