Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides) - "The recent war events aggravate an already very difficult and complex situation", says Suzanna Tkalec to Fides, operator of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), head of Caritas Somalia, in Dadaab (in northern Kenya, on the border with Somalia), where on October 12 two aid operators from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were kidnapped. "We are assessing the situation, which seems to be very fluid, to carry on with our activities of assistance to the Somali population, which has never stopped", says Ms. Tkalec. Caritas Somalia, who along with Caritas Switzerland and Caritas Luxembourg and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), manages a series of support activities both in Dadaab, and in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Djibouti, and in Somalia. There are about 4 million people who risk starvation in Somalia, of these, 3 million are in southern Somalia, according to the latest Situation Report of Caritas Somalia (see Fides 26/10/2011).
The military offensive in Kenya, which has sent 4,000 troops in southern Somalia to stave off the Shabab militia from the border between the two countries, continues towards Kisimayo, apparently with the support of the American drones (aircraft without pilots). According to what a Kenyan television reported, at least 25 civilians were killed and ten were wounded in an attack by one or more U.S. drones in southern Somalia. Meanwhile, the Shabab threatened to retaliate. In the last few days at least three terrorist attacks were carried out in Kenya, by several groups attributed to the Shabab. Two were carried out in the capital Nairobi, with grenades, while on October 27 4 government officials were killed in a rocket attack against a bus in the area of Mandera, near the border with Somalia. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 28/10/2011)
