To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 130W, on Somalia: armed conflict, what estimate he has made of the number of displaced people returning to Mogadishu following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in January 2009. (260241)

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) estimates that between 25,000 and 40,000 internally displaced persons have returned to Mogadishu this year. The Ethiopian withdrawal in January is likely to have been a major spur for these returns, but we are unable to attribute precise figures to this.

The new Somali Prime Minister has said that assisting the return of displaced Mogadishu residents will be one of the first priorities for his administration.