Last week, UNHCR reported that 10,000 people had left the capital, Mogadishu, in a renewal of the outflow seen earlier in the year and it is expected that the total number of people displaced may rise to around 528,000 by end 2008 from 500,000 now.

The UN Refugee Agency estimates that the numbers of internally displaced within Somalia which it can assist will also rise from 312,000 to 478,000 by end 2008. This is in part due to anticipated improvements in access for aid deliveries, especially in the south and central areas of the country.

Almost half the appeal, $22.6 million, is needed to improve the protection and living conditions of internally displaced people in Somalia. As part of the joint UN response for internally displaced people, UNHCR has responsibility for protection, non-food items and emergency shelter. In addition to shelter material and other non-food items for newly displaced people, the UN Refugee Agency's programme includes protection monitoring and tracking of population movements as part of an early warning system to improve future humanitarian responses.

The remainder of the appeal will go to assist Somali refugees in neighbouring countries: $12.6 million for new refugees in Ethiopia, $7.5 million for new refugees in Kenya, $4 million for new refugees in Yemen and $776,000 for new refugees in Djibouti. UNHCR's programme is intended to provide protection and assistance to Somali refugees who have arrived since January 1, 2007, fleeing the conflict between the Islamist Court Union and the Transitional Federal Government. Their numbers are expected to increase from 62,000 now to 78,000 by the end of 2008.

This is in addition to the 450,000 Somali refugees who fled previous turmoil in Somalia, which has lasted two decades, and are assisted under UNHCR's annual programme. Of those, some 315,000 lived in the neighbouring countries at the end of last year, with the rest scattered in other countries.