20100907
africanews

GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 230 civilians have been killed in a worsening of fighting in Mogadishu over the past two weeks that has increasingly trapped residents in the Somali capital, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

Another 400 people have been wounded in the war zone of Somali government forces and hardline Islamist rebels, and many civilians are no longer able to reach safety in neighbouring countries, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

Around 23,000 residents have fled Mogadishu over the past two weeks, many on foot, others forced to give away their last possessions to buy a seat on a small bus out of town, she said.

The streets of Mogadishu were deserted with people too afraid to leave their homes due to heavy shelling, according to Somali refugees reaching the semi-autonomous Somali enclave of Puntland in the north, or neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya.

"One woman who escaped told us, 'All you see in the streets are bodies of people killed by bullets or mortars'," Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva.

"People are increasingly becoming trapped in a war zone -- fleeing Mogadishu has itself become more dangerous and difficult," she said.

The Horn of Africa country has been plagued by anarchy since warlords ousted military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Aid distribution has become rare in Mogadishu, where at least 300,000 displaced are struggling to survive, according to UNHCR, which lacks a current figure for the capital's population.