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Almost twenty years of civil war has left this Horn African country in ruins and devastated its infrastructure. This barbaric and brutal war have led to the displacement of thousands of Somalis from their homes, some had fled to the neighboring countries, others have taken long and dangerous journeys that often ends in disaster.
Africa has experienced the worst civil wars in the 20th century: the Mozambique civil war, the Genocide of Rwanda, The SPLA of Sudan and the Angolan civil war all have come to an end, but the Somali civil war seems to be endless, after many years of anarchy and instability, the horn of African country seems to be transforming into unique and different war zone. Standing near by an IDP camp that is home for almost 1.5 million Mogadishu residents Seedow is one of the thousands of children who spent almost 3 years on the edge of the city, as I met him, millions of Muslims are celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr around the world but young Seedow is not among them, this event has no importantce for him as he doesn’t have a father who cares for him and buys new clothes. “My father was killed in the extreme shelling of the Bakara market, he went for work and didn’t make it back home.” He says “Now our mother who is also weak is taking care of us, she washes clothes and cleans the houses of other people, some days she gets piad some days she doesn’t , life is like that" he added. " But nowadays people are almost thesame; the demand for washing clothes or cleaning houses is less.” In IDP camps, 40% of the children are malnourished, there are no save drinking water, one out of five infants born in the camp dies. The UN food and agriculture organization (FAO) has estimated that nearly 3.8 million Somalis will need humanitarian assistance for the coming months if the situation doesn’t improve. The war in Somalia took a heavy toll on women and children. Based on data from recent wars, for every 10 people who die in the current conflicts, nine are civilians and out of these, six are children. “Before my father was killed we used to go to school and live a normal life, but ever since my father was killed even we don’t dream of going to school in the future,” Seedow adds “during the Ethiopian invision it seemed that we had one enemy, because they used to indiscriminately shell residential areas and market places, that is why people hate Ethiopia, they don’t care about who ever dies, women, children and elderly, till they are killing Somalis.” After the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops we expected that things to improve “ I never thought that we will remain in this camps and one day we will be heading home, but as soon as the Ethiopians withdrew things have changed and the expectation of peace have suddenly diminished.” says Seedow. This is not only Seedow who is facing this taught time; thousands of other children orphaned by Somali’as everlasting civil war are going through the same circumstances. “My father was 15 years old when the war started he lived all his life with the a hope that one day Mogadishu’s true image will return, and the people will live peace in this ruined city, now my father is not here any more and I don’t now weather I will be lucky to witness ever lasting peace in Somalia.” “This is almost the third year we are living as IDP, we see our houses from the corner we are not able to go and visit the debris of houses, life is not complete here neither we live here in this world nor in the here after.” Says Seedow. Before the closure of the Saudi Muslim Charity organization (Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation), children like Seedow had the chance to be sponsored by such organizations. After the closure of the Orphanage Centers, except for few children who had relatives, the rest is believed to have joined the warring sides of the country. B. B. Abdi We welcome the submission of all articles for possible publication on WardheerNews.com |
