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Mogadishu, (InsideSomalia.org) The United Nations has denied suspending operations in Somalia following attacks on its compound in the capital Mogadishu, as quoted from Chinese news Agency.
The UN was forced to suspend operations in Mogadishu as well as the major towns of Afgooye and Kismayo for the remainder of this week.
Attackers struck at the UN Development Program offices several times on Monday after ordering residents back into their homes and telling them to keep the lights off.
A statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there were no plans to suspend operations in Somalia, which has been rocked by violence between government and insurgents.
The UN news release said a number of international non-governmental organizations have also temporarily suspended staff travel to the countryside, where similar attacks have taken place in the past week.
Roadblocks, shelling and attacks in the capital Mogadishu, along with rising threats against and targeting of aid workers, have severely limited the humanitarian community's ability to operate, according to OCHA.
Just last week, a roadside bomb near the southern Somali town of Kismayo killed three humanitarian workers serving with the international non-governmental organization (NGO) Médecins Sans Frontières.
The worsening security situation has also led to an increase in the vulnerable population. Over the past two months, some 40,000 people have fled Mogadishu. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) puts the total number of those displaced by the ongoing fighting since the end of last October at over 294,000.
OCHA has stressed the urgent need for the political and security issues in the troubled Horn of Africa nation to be addressed "in a robust way to create an environment conducive for humanitarian response and eventual recovery."
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