UN: 39 die in Somalia armed clashes in two months

Mogadishu, Aug 12 (IANS) At least 39 people were killed in recent inter-clan clashes in Somalia in the past two months, the United Nations humanitarian agency said on Monday.

Land disputes were blamed on the conflicts, which left 35 dead in the Mudug region, in central Somalia, and four others dead in Luuq, in southern Somalia, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a humanitarian update released in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

About 42,000 people, mostly women, children, and the elderly were displaced by violence in Luuq early July, including 12,000 who fled to hard-to-reach locations outside the town, OCHA said.

Those newly displaced include communities that were already displaced by floods and are now experiencing secondary displacement, the UN agency said, reported Xinhua news agency.

OCHA said clan conflicts in the Mudug region from June 26 to July 2 forced over 26,000 people to abandon their homes, about 30 percent of them herders who managed to flee with their livestock.

About 96,000 families have been affected by recent armed conflicts and climatic shocks in Galmudug State, it said.

–IANS

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