MOGADISHU, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Wednesday that Somalia is hosting 39,286 registered refugees and asylum seekers as of May.

The UNHCR said in its latest update released in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, that 66 percent of the refugees and asylum seekers are women and children mainly from neighboring Ethiopia, followed by Yemen refugees.

According to the UNHCR, most of the refugees and asylum seekers reside in urban or peri-urban settings across the Woqooyi Galbeed and Bari regions in the northern part of the country.

UNHCR said 47 percent or 18,559 persons are refugees while 20,727 are asylum seekers who are living in Somalia which has been facing increased attacks from the al-Shabab militant group.

The UNHCR also said it has assisted 95,181 Somali refugees to return home since December 2014 while 43,897 arrived back spontaneously, bringing the total number of refugee returnees in Somalia to 130,078.

More than 800,000 Somali refugees and asylum seekers are also hosted in the neighboring countries, according to the UNHCR.

It said a further 215,000 persons were internally displaced inside Somalia in the first five months of 2024 while 2.9 million were internally displaced in 2023 due to conflict and natural disasters. Enditem

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