UNHCR's ExCom Chairman to visit Ethiopia, Kenya amid Horn of Africa crisis

Briefing Notes, 23 September 2011

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 23 September 2011, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The head of UNHCR's Executive Committee, Ambassador Hisham Badr of Egypt, will be visiting refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya starting this Sunday week to see for himself the situation there amid the ongoing crisis in the Horn of Africa.

The visit follows High Commissioner António Guterres' mission to the Horn in late August, and comes ahead of the annual meeting of UNHCR's Executive Committee scheduled for the first week in October.

Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Djibouti are together hosting 894,000 Somali refugees, of whom more than a third have fled Somalia this year. With refugees continuing to arrive in the region's main camps on a daily basis Ambassador Badr has expressed his interest in ensuring continued public attention to the issue. In addition to camp visits at Dollo Ado and Dadaab he is hoping to meet UNHCR's government counterparts and implementing partners.

Learn more about the crisis in the Horn of Africa and how to contribute by visiting the UNHCR Horn of Africa emergency donation site. For the latest updates follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

For further information on this topic, please contact:

  • In Nairobi UNHCR Kenya office: Emmanuel Nyabera on mobile: +254 773 995 975
  • In Ethiopia: Kisut Gebre Egziabher on mobile +251 911 208 901
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