WASH news Africa

Hundreds of families have been displaced in Somalia’s southwestern region of Gedo after two days of inter-clan fighting in which 13 people were killed and 24 wounded, according to locals.

The fighting was triggered by revenge killings for the deaths, a year ago, of a Gaadsen man in Dulmuruh village over ownership of a salt mine. The area of the fighting was also close to water points and salt deposits, which has become a very lucrative trade. Almost 600 families abandoned their homes in the two villages for fear of renewed fighting. Many of the displaced families had no access to wells or Barkads (water catchments).

The latest fighting was attributed to disagreements over water sources and grazing lands, as well as ownership of the salt deposits. It had been “exacerbated by the current drought, shortage of water and the easy availability of heavy weapons”.

Read more, IRIN, 6 May 2008