National
Jawahir Sheikh Abdi, a 25-year-old mother of three, fled her home in Mogadishu, Somalia, in November as fighting raged out of control between Islamist-led insurgents and pro-government forces. "We were chased by bullets."
Shashank Bengali / MCT
The Mustahil camp houses some 6,000 people who've fled the fighting in Mogadishu. United Nations officials call the humanitarian crisis in southern Somalia, where more than 200,000 people live in camps along a 10-mile stretch of road leading west from the capital city, the gravest in Africa.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
Inside a displacement camp outside Mogadishu. Some 100,000 people have fled the city.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
A Somali man uses tree branches to construct a shelter for in a displacement camp outside Mogadishu, Somalia.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
A family stands beside their makeshift shelter in a displacement camp. More than 200,000 people now live in wooden shelters in encampments outside the capital city.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
Qasbi Omar Abdi, 45, had slept on the ground in a displacement camp for three straight nights. After her husband was killed by gunfire, she fled the capital with her five children.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
Shukri Mohammed, a 50-year-old mother of seven children, said she was robbed and beaten by militias loyal to the Somali government as she fled fighting in the capital, Mogadishu.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
Hadi Khadija Mohammed's house in Mogadishu, Somalia, was destroyed by rocket fire in March, and now she lives among more than 200,000 others in displacement camps.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
Somalis crowd a passenger bus outside Mogadishu.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
Fatima Sheikh Ali, a 35-year-old mother of seven, brought her family to a displacement camp. Her 13-year-old daughter, Muna, was so traumatized by gunbattles raging in their neighborhood that she hasn't spoken a word in one month, Ali said.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
70-year-old Fatima Hirey Mohammed, whose nephew was among hundreds killed this year in fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia, fled her home in December. "The fighting doesn't care who you are -- it gets everyone."
Shashank Bengali / MCT
Somalis line up plastic jerry cans to collect drinking water inside a displacement camp outside Mogadishu.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
Mothers wait to have their children vaccinated in a displacement camp outside Mogadishu, Somalia. The United Nations Children's Fund and the Somali Red Crescent Society provided vaccinations for some 50,000 children in the displacement camps outside Mogadishu.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
A United Nations "blue shirt" guard, at left, stands watch over a displacement camp.
Shashank Bengali / MCT
of 14
i
