A community centre is to open offering a meeting place for Northampton's growing population of Somalis.

The town now has more than 2,000 Somali refugees and asylum seekers, who have left a country shattered by famine and civil war.

Between five and 10 families are believed to be arriving every week - and their those already here want to offer them support and help in coming to terms with their new life.

One of the centre's organisers, Mahdi Djama, who fled 12 years ago, said: "I have left everything that meant something to me behind."

Famine has devastated the African country

The famine that hit Somalia was described by a BBC reporter in 1992 as "perhaps unprecedented in modern times".

The country - a former British protectorate and Italian colony - was plunged into clan warfare in 1991 with the overthrow of its president.

Shukri Dhaibaas is a refugee living in Northampton who fled a nightmare back home.

She said: "They took my husband into jail and they killed him.

"I was pregnant, with a small child. We left because we cannot live there."

'All welcome'

The organisers of the centre, which should open in the next few weeks, know what it is like to arrive in a strange country with nothing.

"I had I think three trousers and two shirts on me, and my documents," said Mr Djama.

Now, many Somalis arriving in Northampton are asylum seekers who have been moved from larger cities in the UK.

The new centre has the backing of the police, the council, and local colleges - who provide education for some, including one former nomadic herdsman who is now a law student.