Orphans unprotected amid Mogadishu fighting

Orphaned children are in a critical situation in Somalia as the fighting continues in Mogadishu, the United Nations has said. There has been much fighting and violence between government forces and Islamic insurgents in many parts of Mogadishu since the start of May. Nearly 170,000 people have been made homeless there since the fighting began, according to estimates from the United Nations refugee agency. And with no government support or aid, children especially orphans are most at risk.

Just 14 years-old, Ali Hussein Sid is the sole breadwinner of his family. His father was killed in the country’s ongoing civil war and his mother seriously injured when a mortar landed on their home in the capital, Mogadishu. He struggles to make a living as a shoe shiner and sometimes goes home empty-handed as customers are hard to come by in war-torn Mogadishu, where has been intense in recent months. "My family depends on what I make shining shoes in the city but sometimes I go back home without making a cent," he told the United Nations news service. "I feel very alone when I am faced with a problem."

The lack of a proper government since President Siad Barre was ousted in 1992 meant the collapse of the government's support system for vulnerable people across the country. Orphaned and vulnerable children have borne the brunt of Somalia's 18-year civil war. "A lot of the orphans and vulnerable children lost their parents in the ongoing violence," said Ahmed Dini, who works for a local aid agency there. "They are among the people facing the hardest times in the whole country,” he told the news service. “In fact the most vulnerable people in the country now are the orphans as they were forced to flee from their homes yet they do not have fathers to be responsible for them." He said the numbers of children on the streets was continuing to rise as the conflict worsens. Dini said the children just wanted a childhood. "When we talk to them, they want to go to school and play football. They basically want to be children."

The situation is so bad that children are having to take care of other children "because both parents have died and there are no relatives to help", he said. The absence of government help is causing daily problems for these children," Dini said. "It would be good to get a strengthened institution that would care for young Somali orphans."