The United Nations today appealed for $48 million to help Somalis fleeing renewed violence and said the overall number of people uprooted from the Horn of Africa country was now estimated at 500,000.
More than 10,000 people fled the capital Mogadishu last week, many of them now living in "deplorable conditions" with limited access to food, clean water and medicines, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The funding appeal by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) aims to provide aid to internally displaced Somalis and Somali refugees crossing into Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen and Djibouti through the end of 2008, a statement said.
"This is particularly concerning people who have been newly displaced since the beginning of the year because of the renewed conflict in the country," UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis, told a briefing. "We also expect the number of displaced people will probably continue to rise," she added.
The UNHCR estimated the current number of displaced within Somalia at 438,000, some 250,000 of them around Mogadishu, which saw the worst fighting in two decades last March and April. The overall number of displaced - including new Somali refugees who recently fled to neighbouring countries - now stands at some 500,000 and could rise further, it said.
Peace talks opened a week ago in the Horn of Africa country of some 7 million people, which has been plagued by 16 years of anarchy. Reconciling rival clans is a key aim of a major conference in Mogadishu which the interim government hopes will bolster its legitimacy and win it the support it needs to bring peace among Somalia's myriad factions.
Somali government forces and allied Ethiopian troops have been a target of regular attacks in the Bakara market, which is home to one of the world's biggest open-air weapons markets and is suspected of being a hideout for Islamist insurgents.
"Closure of the Bakara market makes us fear that food stuffs that are already difficult to find will become even more so," UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau told the briefing. Many of the 10,000 people who have fled Mogadishu in the past week live in "deplorable conditions" marked by a lack of access to food, clean water, housing and medical care, she said.
UNICEF's ability to reach the needy and provide aid has been hampered by closed roads and "total insecurity", she added.