The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR on Wednesday said that it has registered almost 1.5 million people this month alone in north-west Pakistan as a result of displacement caused by fighting between Taliban militants and Pakistani forces. A spokesman for the UNHCR, Ron Redmond, said he has not seen a displacement crisis grow “so big and so fast in years.” In addition to the 1.5 million people displaced this month in Pakistan, more than 500,000 have been displaced since August last year. UNHCR said many of the new arrivals are women and children. The women say their husbands are staying behind to tend to cattle and crops. Elsewhere, the agency said 45,000 people have fled the Somali capital Mogadishu in the past 12 days since intense fighting erupted between government forces and al Shabab militants on May 8. UNHCR is providing assistance to some 500,000 Somali refugees in nearby countries, including Yemen, in addition to the 1.3 million internally displaced Somalis.
