Pope Benedict XVI called on political leaders to hammer out a peaceful solution to the escalating violence in Somalia that has forced 1 million people to flee their homes.

The pope said he was following "with trepidation the unfolding events" in Somalia, where clashes between Islamic insurgents and allied Ethiopian-Somali government troops have recently flared.

At the end of his Nov 21 weekly general audience in St Peter's Square, the pope said he had been hearing the "painful news about the precarious humanitarian situation in Somalia, especially in Mogadishu, increasingly stricken by social insecurity and poverty."

He launched an appeal to international and local political leaders "to find peaceful solutions and bring relief to these dear people" while encouraging humanitarian efforts to continue.

"Moreover, I encourage the efforts of those who, despite the insecurity and difficulties, remain in that region in order to bring aid and relief to the inhabitants," he said.

Catholic and other aid agencies have called for an end to the humanitarian catastrophe as hundreds of thousands of Mogadishu residents have been forced to flee their homes. They warned that increasing insecurity in the country was threatening their ability to offer desperately needed aid and medical assistance.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said 1 million people have fled the violence and are living on the streets or in makeshift shelters.

The apostolic administrator of Mogadishu, Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, said, "the people cannot take any more" of the continuous fighting that has turned into "a rebellion to every effect."

In a Nov 13 interview with Fides, the Vatican missionary news agency, the bishop said an immediate political solution seemed unlikely given that, "after 15 peace conferences, the last one in Mogadishu in August, Somalia's political leaders have still not reached an agreement for a stable and lasting peace."

He said the conflict has many factors fuelling it: "on the one hand, spreading extremism which exploits religion irresponsibly for its own political ends and, on the other, various foreign powers fighting for control of local resources" such as new oil fields and oil routes.

Somalia has not had an effective government for more than 15 years. Internal violence compounded by famine, disease and poverty has devastated the African country.

In June 2006, the fundamentalist Union of Islamic Courts, which runs a parallel government to the Somali transitional government, gained control of Mogadishu and parts of southern Somalia. Since then, conflicts involving Somali government forces, Islamic insurgents and international peacekeeping forces have intensified.
(CNS)