Juba
The largest city of Jubaland is Kismaayo, which is situated on the coast near the mouth of the Juba River. The Lower and Middle Juba regions comprise the districts of Kismaayo, Jilib, Jamaame, Hagar, Afmadow, Badaadhe, Bua'ale and Sakow. They have a combined area of 1,085sq Kms with a coastline of 530 Kms and an estimated population of 852,228 people (Population Estimation Survey of Somalia (PESS) 2013-2014). The regions are bordered on the south by Kenya and on the north by Gedo, Bay and Lower Shabelle regions.
The IDP population in Jubaland is estimated to be 135,000 IDPs (UNHCR total IDPs per region report, September 2014). Kismaayo is believed to have the largest IDP population in the region mostly located in Farjano and Fanole areas. Recent IDPs profiling conducted by NRC indicated that there are 6,059 IDPs households in Kismaayo towns in 80 settlements. In Dhobley and its surroundings, there are 6 settlements with approximately 1,380 households.
The Shelter Cluster conducted an infrastructure mapping exercise in 53 settlements in Kismaayo in October-November 2013 and in December 2014. Another infrastructure mapping exercise was also conducted in 15 settlements in Diff, Dhobley and Afmadow in December 2014. However, due to the large-scale displacement caused by recent evictions and flooding, the produced reports can no longer be viewed as an accurate representation of IDP populations. A new infrastructure mapping exercise is proposed to inform future shelter and other humanitarian programming.
IDPs in Kismaayo are mostly from Lower Shabelle, Banadir, Gedo, Bay, Middle and Lower Juba. The majority of the IDPS are of Bantu origin, generally marginalized as considered outside the traditional Somali clan system. They moved to Kismaayo town because of recurring conflict and drought from the 1990s onwards. Long controlled by the Al-Shabaab, access to Dhobley, Afmadow and Diff by the humanitarian agencies was very limited until 2012 when Kenyan forces liberated these cities. While AMISOM and Juba Interim Administration (JIA) managed to dislodge from key towns in Lower Juba including Kismaayo, Al-shabaab maintains a presence in entire Middle Juba districts which hinders humanitarian access and service delivery.
Kismaayo, the second largest city in South - central Somalia has been devastated by civil conflict, floods, famine and the prolonged presence of Al Shabaab, until October 2012. Most IDPs in Kismaayo live in former government buildings, or their ad-hoc temporary settlements which occupy the former government land. Some IDPs have spent over 21 years in these camps. In November 2013, the Interim Juba Administration (IJA) issued an eviction order to occupants of public property in Kismaayo and approximately 23 IDP settlements (2,578 Households) were affected. The evictions were deemed necessary by the administration due to lack of space for public facilities and the evictees were not allocated any substitute land or shelter, but were to receive cash compensation from the IJA.
Dhobley being stable and a middle transport point also receives people from various areas. There has been an influx of population into Dhobley from surrounding areas including Kenya in the recent months. Like most parts of Somalia, recurring severe drought has been the main natural hazard which has occurred in the last two decades affecting agro-pastoral livelihoods. In addition, the flooding of the River Juba often affects the surrounding villages usually leading to displacement of large populations into the region. Vulnerable communities in Jubaland also face harsh living conditions due to the lack of adequate access to basic necessities such as food, shelter and safe drinking water. Recurrent clan conflicts, rampant evictions, minimal humanitarian assistance, minimal income sources , high unemployment rates, the embargo of charcoal business by the United Nations and also local ban by Al Shabaab have interrupted the livelihood sources, weakening resilience and coping mechanisms of the residents of Jubaland and especially IDPs.
There are more than 6,000 households in need of shelters in Afmadow district consisting of Dhobley, Afmadow, Diif and Deglema.
Juba region maps can be found in the Online Maps Juba and Maps Juba pages.
Overview