Saturday November 6, 2021
Guriel (HOL) - Over 80,0000 residents have returned home to Guriel in recent weeks following intense battles between Galmudug regional forces backed by federal troops and the Sufi paramilitary group Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a last month.
According to the UN office for humanitarian affairs, the conflict displaced over 100,000 people, including 25,800 internally displaced people who experienced secondary displacement.
The regional government says that it is working on reconnecting electricity and water supplies. Galmudug says that the corridor that connects their region to Hirshabelle has been secured, and there is now the unrestricted movement of civilian and commercial vehicles.
Authorities say that a hospital that was severely damaged by the fighting is being repaired.
Shop owners have also begun returning to their businesses, but as many as 17,000 students from 41 different schools have yet to resume classes.
Guriel was the scene of intense fighting over four days in late November. Local and international media said that as many as 120 people were killed in the violence. Galmudug Ministry of Health said in early November that 68 people were killed and 250 others injured, including two civilian casualties.