Thousands of Somali refugees, fleeing famine and years of violence, streamed into Mogadishu yesterday searching for food after Islamist rebels withdrew from the capital.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated al- Shabab insurgents began pulling their fighters out of Mogadishu over the weekend, raising hopes that humanitarian groups would be able to step up aid deliveries after years of blockages by the militant group.
Locals said long lines of refugees were heading to the battle-scarred city to escape the region’s worst drought in decades, and existing supplies were already running low.
The UN says about 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia and about 12 million people across the Horn of Africa region, including in Ethiopia and Kenya. “Now thousands . . . are on the way from Bakool and Bay [regions] to Mogadishu,” said Sherif Isak (58), a refugee in Badbaado camp on the outskirts of the capital.
“I cannot say it will rain but I am sure life will improve if al-Shabab melts away. More agencies will come and people will get food and jobs.”
Al-Shabab withdrew four years into their battle to overthrow Somalia’s western-backed government, an insurgency that has driven the chaotic country deeper into anarchy.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre 20 years ago, and peace is a distant prospect.
The militants, hostile to any western intervention, have blocked humanitarian deliveries in the past, saying aid creates dependency.
Aid agencies say they have been unable to reach more than two million Somalis facing starvation in rebel-held territories.
Days after al-Shabab’s departure, the first of three flights from the UN refugee agency UNHCR landed in Mogadishu yesterday, carrying more than 31 tonnes of shelter material, including blankets and jerrycans for water.
Local officials said they were cautiously hopeful.
“If ongoing aid flights keep coming to Mogadishu, we are optimistic that people will survive,” said Fartun Abdisalan Adam, a local human-rights group official.
But existing supplies were running low. “The refugees are still storming the capital in search of food and there is not enough food for them to survive in the capital.”
Somalia’s struggling government hailed the rebels’ exit as a major victory but al-Shabab said their withdrawal was just tactical and promised to return. Analysts said the exit could herald a wave of al-Qaeda-style suicide attacks.
Yesterday afternoon, a suicide car bomb detonated prematurely 13km (eight miles) south of Mogadishu, officials said.
“We understand a car full of explosives detonated unexpectedly. Only the driver died, but two civilians were also injured,” said Capt Ndayiragije Come, a spokesman for the African Union peacekeeping force, Amisom.
“The suicide car bomb was heading to Mogadishu. Al-Shabab has not given up war. They are masterminding more blasts but we are very alert.”
Mogadishu residents said they still felt far from secure. Many feared fresh fighting between government troops and remnants of the rebel force hiding out in the capital.
Militants have threatened to behead anyone who betrays their fighters to the police.
“I think this is one of the riskiest operating environments of any humanitarian operation in the world right now so I think, sure, there’s risk of an uptick in the fighting. There are all sorts of risks,” said a senior US official travelling with the delegation of Jill Biden, the wife of US vice-president Joe Biden.
Ms Biden was visiting Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp just over Somalia’s border in neighbouring Kenya.
Dadaab, declared full in 2008, has had an influx of about 1,500 Somali refugees a day since late July.