By Osman Hassan
Associated Press Writer
MOGADISHU,
Somalia (AP) -- Hundreds of leprosy victims, some of whom had
to be carried in wheelbarrows, are among thousands of people being
forced to flee their homes because of floods devastating parts
of southern Somalia, a local official said Friday.
Since the
beginning of this week, more than 60 villages and 150,000 people
have been seriously affected by the floods in Lower Juba and Middle
Juba regions. Two of the evacuated villages were home to nearly
1,000 leprosy victims, said Hashi Siad Sabriyeh, council chairman
in Faragurow, one of the villages.
The leprosy
victims living in Faragurow and neighboring Labo-Dad were put
in the villages by the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre in the 1980s
for ''quarantine,'' Sabriyeh said.
Two of the
sufferers there have died in the last four days, said Sabriyeh,
who also has leprosy.
''I am afraid
the death rate will increase dramatically if the situation does
not improve,'' he said in a VHF radio interview from Jilib town
in Middle Juba region, 185 miles south of Mogadishu. ''We don't
even have the basic food items, let alone medicine or shelter.''
The leprosy
victims, who were left alone in their villages and survived as
small-scale farmers, have been moved to Jilib, three miles from
the town, he said. Some 380 of them -- unable to walk because
of the effects of the disease -- had to be carried in wheelbarrows
and carts drawn by donkeys.
Leprosy is
a progressive, infectious disease that can cause skin ulcers and
deformities such as claw hand. Malnutrition can increase susceptibility
to the disease, and its victims are often stigmatized and shunned
by society.
Authorities
in Jilib have already expressed concern about the sudden influx
of leprosy sufferers.
''We don't
even have enough doctors and nurses to give advice to people against
leprosy,'' said Mohamud Ahmed Gulu, an elder in Jilib.
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