AU Special Representative concerned with living conditions in IDP camps

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- On the occasion of the World Refugee Day today, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia Ambassador Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra has expressed his deepest concern at the pathetic conditions in which Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) are living.

Ambassador Diarra noted with regret that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Somalia continue to live in very congested centres with poor sanitation and sometimes without access to clean drinking water which he said has been a cause of many diseases within the camps.

The AU Special Representative called on aid agencies and other stakeholders to intensify their efforts to alleviate the suffering of IDPs by providing at least the most basic services of food , shelter and clothing to those in need.

He said; “With the security situation in Mogadishu and the surrounding districts improving, I wish to appeal to humanitarian organizations to scale up their operations and reach as many displaced persons as possible with the much needed humanitarian assistance.”

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has helped the Somali National Army (SNA) to liberate Mogadishu and other districts outside the capital thereby ensuring safe corridors for humanitarian agencies to access those in need.

He said; “By liberating as many areas as we have done recently, we are fulfilling our mandate of securing humanitarian corridors to allow for the delivery of assistance to Internally Displaced Persons and I wish to ask aid agencies to seize this opportunity.”