Somalia - 20 Years of Exodus

Somalia - 20 Years of Exodus, originally uploaded by UNHCR.

Makeshift shelters and new tents at the new arrivals section of IFO camp, Dadaab, Kenya. Continuing violence in Somalia has led to more and more Somalis seeking refuge across the border in Kenya, but UNHCR is struggling to cope with the thousands of new arrivals at the camps who need shelter, food, and medical attention. / UNHCR / E. Hockstein / December 2008

Over the past years, Kenya has hosted Somali refugees from Mogadishu and the Lower Juba regions of Kismayo, Jamame and Afmadow. Following the closure of the Mombassa camps in 1997, the Somali refugees who did not repatriate were relocated to Dadaab and Kakuma camps. Since then, new arrivals continue to add to the existing refugee population in Dadaab. Despite the official closure of the Kenyan border with Somalia in early 2007, more than 60,000 people have crossed into Kenya throughout 2008. The Somali refugee influx is expected to continue in the coming months as a result of ongoing violence in Somalia, compounded by severe drought conditions, food insecurity and heavy floods.

The Somali unrest and displacement to Kenya is straining the resources of the Kenyan Government and humanitarian agencies. New arrivals are accommodated in camps in Dadaab (Dagahaley, Hagadera and Ifo) which host three times the number of people for which they were initially designed. Without a political resolution to the conflict in Somalia, the humanitarian situation will remain critical in Kenya, which currently hosts close to 250,000 Somali refugees. The Kenyan authorities, UNHCR and other UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs have been working closely to improve the general living conditions of Somali refugees, but the needs are enormous and the current level of funding is insufficient. Additional human and financial resources, beyond those originally foreseen in UNHCR’s Annual Programme Budget for 2009, are required to meet minimum standards and provide essential services for the existing caseload as well as some 120,000 new arrivals expected through the coming year.

Uploaded by UNHCR on 21 Jan 09, 2.02AM PDT.

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