UN: Thousands of Somalis Fleeing to Kenya | Voice of America - English
The U.N. refugee agency reports the number of uprooted Somalis arriving this year in the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya has surpassed 45,000.  The UNHCR says thousands of Somali refugees, desperate to escape fighting in their country, make the difficult journey to Kenya every month.  Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.The U.N.
The U.N. refugee agencysays about 5,000 refugees arrive in Kenya's remote Dadaabrefugee camp every month. The camp is located some 80 kilometers fromthe border with Somalia. The Kenya-Somalia border has officiallyremained closed since early 2007. But, UNHCR spokesman, Ron Redmond,says this has not stopped thousands of desperate people from coming. "Itis a fairly porous border," he said. "It is a very remote area. So, itis not all that difficult to get across the border. Once they do getacross the border there are teams, mobile teams, which are able toreach them. There is a reception center where they are interviewed andthen they are taken to the camp. So, it is not all that difficult forthem to get across aside from the official checkpoints." Dadaabis one of the world's oldest, biggest and most congested refugeecamps. The UNHCR says the population is now more than 215,000. Thisis a 25 percent increase since the beginning of this year. It saysmost of the refugees arriving in Dadaab are from the Somali capital,Mogadishu where the fighting is most intense. The UNHCR saysDadaab camp has twice as many people as it should have. It says therecent influx has worsened the overcrowding and it is planning to buildanother camp to house newly arriving Somali refugees. Aidagencies describe this week's fighting in Mogadishu as the worst sincethe beginning of the latest insurgency in February 2007. Redmond saysat least 15,000 residents have fled their homes. He says almosthalf of the newly displaced civilians have moved to safer parts ofMogadishu. The others have fled toward the Somali town of Afgooye,which, he says is already jammed with more than 300,000 internallydisplaced people. "The new wave of displacement in Mogadishu isworsening an already catastrophic situation in a war-torn country wheremore than one million people are displaced," he said. "Some 700,000people fled Mogadishu last year alone. And, we estimate that since thebeginning of this year, another 160,000 were forced to leave the Somalicapital. Our partners in the city say people are confused, traumatizedand fleeing in panic and despair. Many have no idea where to findshelter as they try to escape the massive and indiscriminate shellingand violence." This upsurge of violence reportedly has killedsome 200 people and wounded scores of civilians, including women andchildren. Redmond says the UNHCR fears the movement out of Mogadishuis likely to increase with the end of the month of Ramadan next week.