Mogadishu’s refugees ‘waiting for death’ as Covid-19 reaches Somalia

In the Nabadoon camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Asho Abdullahi Hassan, a 40-year-old mother of seven, has heard about the coronavirus on the radio.

“I am very scared about this deadly virus. I only heard about it from the news. It is like we are waiting for death to come,” she says.

The camp hosts about 3,000 families, most recently displaced from Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region following an intensification of fighting and US airstrikes.

Humanitarian activists are warning that it may be impossible to stop the spread of the virus in such places, where sanitary precautions are difficult and social distancing impossible. In Nabadoon, few can afford soap and water is rare.

“This can get very bad. It will be hard,” said Patrick Youssef, deputy director for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross. “Our fear is that governments will seek to protect those they see as their own populations and people … in refugee camps will be left to fend for themselves.”

The spread of coronavirus in Africa has been much slower than in Europe and Asia, but the World Health Organization is concerned about a steep rise in cases across the continent in recent days.

The WHO’s Africa region – sub-Saharan countries plus Algeria – had recorded 990 confirmed cases and 23 deaths.

The UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, has launched a campaign to educate refugees in Uganda about hygiene and sanitation, increase distributions of soap and hand sanitiser, and train health workers.

Experts believe some camps might be shielded to a degree by their distance from urban areas that are the usual entry points of the virus to countries. The age profile of many refugee settlements – with a very high proportion of young people and children – may also boost their resilience.

But a significant risk is that the focus on the threat of coronavirus will distract from other needs.
Ma’ow Ali Mohamud, a 56-year-old father of eight in a displacement camp in the Hodan area of Mogadishu, said his priority was food. “We only eat one meal every day. I am not bothered about coronavirus. We are lacking food. We do not have clean drinking water. That is my first priority,” he said.

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