Kenya pleads for assistance for Somali refugees

Geneva/Nairobi, GHN News - MSF --  At
least 700 Somali families who fled war in Somalia now face unacceptable
living conditions in spontaneous settlements outside the overcrowded
refugee camp of Dagahaley in Dadaab, Kenya, and medical authorities are worried.

The international

medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF)  reports that the "situation for the refugees has become even more precarious.

With the rainy season underway, the situation for the refugees has become even more precarious. 

MSF
urgently calls upon the Kenyan authorities and aid agencies to reach an
agreement to ensure appropriate humanitarian assistance.  There are at least 3,000 people in the makeshift settlements.  Heavy
rains over the past 48 hours have flooded the area where the families
are settled, worsening the already harsh living conditions for those who
could not find shelter inside the refugee camp.



“Hundreds
of families have been living in makeshift shelters in a no man’s land
over the past four months, waiting to be re-located to a proper camp”
said Joke Van Peteghem, MSF’s head of mission in Kenya. “These refugees
are in dire need of assistance given the hardships they have endured.
With the onset of the rainy season, we must act now.”

Each
month, thousands of refugees, many of them women and children fleeing
the war in Somalia, cross the Kenyan border after an often treacherous
journey on foot. Today, they face alarming shortages of food, water,
sanitation, and adequate shelter; the refugee camp is severely
overcrowded and cannot accept them.  Although a site has been identified for newer refugees, relocation to the site has been delayed.

In
response, MSF has carried out rapid medical screenings of the refugees,
referring people in need of medical care to health facilities. MSF also
provided shelter materials to the 700 families, and, together with
other agencies, ensured the supply of water.

“We
are at a dead-end,” said Van Peteghem. “While we have distributed
plastic sheeting to the new refugee families, it is far from enough,
especially now that the rainy season has started. We call on the Kenyan authorities and aid actors to immediately facilitate their relocation to suitable accommodation.”

Dagahaley is one of three camps in Dadaab, Kenya that were set up in the early 1990s to house Somali refugees.  Camps
that had originally been built to accommodate 90,000 people are today
struggling to cope with close to 300,000 inhabitants.  MSF started to work in Dagahaley camp in March 2009, operating a 100-bed hospital with surgical and maternal health services.  More than 600 patients are admitted per month.  Four
MSF health centers provide vaccinations, antenatal care, and mental

healthcare, with an average of 10,000 patient consultations per month.