UNICEF said on Wednesday 30 September that it is deeply concerned by reports that children have been killed and injured in recent clashes in Baidoa, in Somalia's South West State, and that reports also indicate a health facility has been damaged.
"Children are once again bearing the heaviest burden of violence," the statement by the UNICEF Representative in Somalia, Sandra Lattouf, says. UNICEF said insecurity is putting children's lives at risk and limiting their access to health care and other essential services, and called on all parties to protect children from harm, protect schools and health facilities, and allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access.
According to UN News, clashes have broken out in Baidoa, the state's largest city, in the past few weeks between Government forces and fighters loyal to the former regional president, who was ousted in March. UN News says the army, which seized the city earlier this year, has been seeking to maintain control of it.
The fighting comes on top of a severe humanitarian crisis. UN News reports that 26,000 people in Baidoa alone face catastrophic food insecurity, the highest level on the hunger scale. UN News reports that the World Food Programme's food assistance can now support just over 670,000 people, down from more than four million a month a few years ago, and that the El Niño weather pattern is expected to deepen the crisis by intensifying the October to December rainy season.
What it means for operators
The FCDO advises against all travel to Somalia, including Somaliland, except for the regions of Awdal, Maroodijeh and Sahil, where it advises against all but essential travel, citing the threat from terrorist groups and continuing violence. Baidoa sits inside the all-travel area. The FCDO says that anyone who remains does so at their own risk and "should have a personal emergency plan that does not rely on the UK government."
Consular support is severely limited: the FCDO says there is no in-person support from staff at the British Embassy Mogadishu, and British nationals in Somalia, excluding Somaliland, should contact the British High Commission in Nairobi for urgent help. The FCDO also reports a high threat of kidnapping throughout Somalia and says British nationals are seen as legitimate targets, including humanitarian aid workers, journalists and business travellers.
For teams supporting humanitarian or commercial work in South West State, treat Baidoa as an active armed-clash area alongside the existing terrorism and kidnap threat. The FCDO says medical facilities outside Hargeisa are extremely limited and often at great distances, so medical and extraction planning should assume air evacuation, with insurance and funds in place for it, and should not rely on local facilities that may themselves be damaged or overwhelmed.
