The United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners working to provide emergency humanitarian relief continue to face restricted access in some areas of Somalia.

Among the areas to which humanitarian organizations face the greatest access restrictions are Jowhar in Middle Shabelle, and Kismayo in Lower Juba. This situation is of particular concern as some of the greatest humanitarian needs in the country are concentrated in southern Somalia, where the response to severe flooding this autumn had just been started before this most recent outbreak of armed conflict. Somalis affected by the floods there have yet to receive adequate emergency assistance.

While some trucks carrying humanitarian supplies, including both food and non-food items, to internally displaced Somalis sheltering at Dobley and Afmadow have been able to cross from Kenya to Somalia at the Liboi border crossing in recent days, both the El Wak and Mandera border crossings remain closed. Approximately 40 trucks are waiting on the Somali side of the border, unable to return to Kenya to load new relief supplies for delivery to Gedo region.

Also at Mandera are two trucks bound for Wajid carrying fuel for internal humanitarian flights within Somalia. At present, it is expected that the remaining jet fuel at Wajid will run out within the next two days. Meanwhile, the airstrip at Kismayo remains inaccessible to the humanitarian community, while local security at the Jowhar airstrip is inadequate for the airstrip to be operational.

Meanwhile, to the north in Galkayo, where some 35,000 internally displaced persons have sought refuge, two flights containing United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) non-food relief have arrived and a third is expected this week. The non-governmental organization (NGO) Islamic Relief will provide shelter assistance to the displaced and is hiring staff, to be trained by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to that end.

Furthermore, there have recently been reports of Somali refugees, mainly women, children and the elderly from the Bay and Bakool regions, crossing over into south-eastern Ethiopia, near the towns of Ferfer, Mustahil and Kelafo. Current estimates indicate some 200 Somali families at Ferfer, 60 families at Mustahil, and 714 families at Kelafo. Many of the refugees have settled in host families and are receiving assistance from them. However, there is need for medicine -- particularly as cholera has been reported in the area -- as well as for food and shelter assistance.