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Many of these incidents happen in southern Somalia where explosives are planted of heaps of rubbish in the playgrounds of the children. The number of children who have died as the result of such improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has increased to an estimated 300 children per year, and likely to double unless effective actions are taken.
This threat is increased for the children of internally displaced people (IDPs) who have no proper shelter and spend much of their times playing in streets, some of them are killed directly while many others sustain serious injuries.
Despite the constant threat of deaths and injury from these explosives, it has became routine and residents are not moved by such deaths, they have become another burden which must be lived with.
Somalia Report spoke with Halima Abdi, a mother of six who lost a son and a daughter on two separate occassions. She narrates part of her saddening story. "I lost two of my children from explosives planted amongst objects in dustbins that they found and played with as toys. Both of them died during the afternoon but on different occasions, and I witnessed both of the incidents but I never found their bodies except fragmented pieces of their corpses. I can do nothing except to weep and try to live with the challenges since you can't fight against destiny,” she recalled with a saddened tone.
Halima is not the only parent who has suffered from such terrifying incidents, there are many more who have also undergone this kind of disaster. Moreover, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which remove mines and explosives are overwhelmed by the volume of IEDs over southern Somalia. "To make the matter worse, there is no organization teaching us how best we should dispose of them, since they surround in our environs,” she pleaded.
NGOs cite the many challenges which they face. Abdi Hirey, a detective who seeks out IEDs says, "We are faced with many challenges including a shortage of well trained staff, the area of operation which is too large and also a shortage of facilities for disposal,” he said.
There is a need for community-initiated projects to educate about protection from and mitigation of danger from IEDs. Though there have been some precautions and mobilization through local FM radio stations, the effect has thus far been minimal.
TFG officials in Banadir, Gedo and lower Juba regions of southern Somalia have called for citizens to stay away from explosive devices if they come across them, and to call for help from the nearest police station.
“We are doing our best to ensure that the citizens are safe from this disaster through mass education and effective assistance from the TFG officials involved,“ said Farah Jibril, a TFG detective in the middle Shabelle region.
An NGO named Save Children in Somalia has called for an international effort to protect children from IEDs. IDPs requesting both the TFG and local NGOs to act and eliminate the explosives, especially those planted in areas where children are threatened.