NAIROBI, 8 June 2009 (IRIN) - Officials in Somalia's border town of Eil Waq, Gedo region, have appealed for urgent help for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who need food, water and shelter.

At least 15,000 Somalis, some of whom fled violence in the capital, Mogadishu, and others who are drought-displaced, are facing disease and uncertainty in Eil Waq, near the Kenyan border, locals told IRIN on 8 June.

"We don't have exact figures but our estimate is that some 2,500 families [15,000 people] have arrived in Eil Waq," Hussein Hassan Katilow, the district commissioner, said.

He said the IDPs were being hosted by families in the small town of about 24,000 people, or had set up makeshift shelters in and around the area.

Since fighting intensified between government forces and insurgents in early May, almost 100,000 Somalis have been forced to flee their homes to join hundreds of thousands already displaced.

According to the UN, some three million Somalis need assistance.

Katilow said the IDP influx had escalated in the past two weeks.

"Both the nomads [drought-displaced] and those coming from Mogadishu are still coming to the town; we are getting people every day," he said.

Katilow said Eil Waq was overwhelmed by the influx and needed help. He said if the influx continued, the displaced would equal or outnumber the residents.

"I am hosting four other families," he said. "We have appealed in past and we are again appealing for help for both the locals and the displaced," he said. "There is not a single 24-hour period when we don't get people coming."

Mahad Mohamed, a local journalist, told IRIN many IDPs, especially from Mogadishu, had been planning to cross into Kenya but were denied entry, even though Kenyan officials deny the border is closed, he said.

"In the past two weeks, would-be refugees have been turned back by Kenyan authorities," Mohamed said. "I have witnessed a number of people who were denied entry."

He said the IDPs had fled a recent upsurge of violence in Mogadishu while others were pastoralists who lost their livestock to the drought and were seeking help in the town.

Mohamed said the displaced often arrived hungry, exhausted and traumatised by the long journey to the border town.

"They are having difficulty even with the weather," he said. "They are mostly women and children and come with nothing to feed or shelter themselves."

A civil society official, who requested anonymity, said continued insecurity in parts of southern Somalia had limited the ability of aid agencies to help the needy.

ah/mw

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