The Community of Sant’Egidio expresses its condolences to the Somali people and its institutions, for the very serious attack that killed almost one hundred people today in Mogadishu, including many young people, university students.
Somalia has been at war since 1992, transforming the past decades into a long series of mourning for the civilian population. This is now a mostly forgotten conflict, where human life no longer matters. Not a week goes by without victims, in terrorist attacks of varying intensity. Meanwhile, the country is divided without Somali leaders being able to find an agreement on the Constitution and on the institutional order of the country. Numerous attempts have failed in recent years and Somali regions continue to separate from each other, in a kind of "save yourself" attitude due to abandonment and international disinterest.
The Community of Sant’Egidio condemns yet another terrorist attack and urgently addresses the international community to ensure that Somalia is not abandoned to a fate of death and disintegration and that energy and resources useful for its pacification are invested. In our work with the refugees they we have met and continue to meet many Somalis fleeing their uninhabitable country. They tell us terrible stories of war and suffering that nobody listens to anymore.
A decisive outrage and new international commitment are needed to stop dying in this absurd way in Mogadishu.
