Twin blasts in Dadaab raise concerns of worsening security
Monday's explosion in Hagadera camp killed one police officer and wounded two others. Tuesday's blast in nearby Ifo camp suggested it was not an isolated incident.
GENEVA, December 21 (UNHCR) - An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday near the market at the Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. There were no casualties but a police vehicle was damaged. The explosion came just a day after a blast in nearby Hagadera camp killed one police officer and seriously injured two others.
In a statement issued today, UNHCR expressed alarm at the string of recent security incidents targeting the Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya. Dadaab is the world's largest refugee settlement and shelters more than 460,000 people.
In total there have been four explosions at Dadaab since October, when three aid workers were kidnapped. The blasts have killed three Kenyan police officers and wounded four others. There have also been threats against humanitarian agencies working in Dadaab. UNHCR condemned these attacks and called for respect for peace and the civilian nature of the refugee camps.
"We are deeply concerned for the well-being and safety of Somali refugees in Dadaab, most of whom are women, children and elderly," said António Guterres, the UN's High Commissioner for refugees. "For the sake of refugees and those who are there to help them, it is of paramount importance to preserve the peaceful and civilian character of the camps."
A deadly mix of conflict, persecution, drought and famine has seen 295,000 people fleeing Somalia this year. More than half have found shelter at the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. Others fled to Ethiopia, Yemen and Djibouti.
In Dadaab, development of new sites, registration, deliveries of emergency assistance and services continued uninterrupted throughout the year. However, since October, growing insecurity has crippled the ability of aid agencies to deliver the all but life-saving assistance - mainly food, water and health services. UNHCR and its partners are exploring options to allow full operations to resume.
The situation in Dadaab has been further complicated in recent months by an outbreak of cholera, believed to have started among new arrivals who acquired it in Somalia or en route to Dadaab. Although new cases are now on a downward trend, UNHCR has registered 897 cases, and three deaths, since August. Worsening security, rains and flooding have also made it harder to truck in water to parts of the camps.
Somalia remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. More than 950,000 Somalis live as refugees in neighbouring countries, while another 1.46 million are internally displaced.
Related news and stories
Thousands of newly arrived Somali refugees in Ethiopia relocated to new settlement
Samira's Story
Drought brings life-threatening food shortages for refugees in Ethiopia
100,000 new Somali refugees arrive in Ethiopia in the past month, UN and partners are calling for urgent funding
Q&A with Mary Maker, UNHCR's newest Global Goodwill Ambassador
UNHCR teams and partners rush assistance to some 100,000 newly arrived Somali refugees in hard-to-reach area of Ethiopia
Your search for « Dadaab » matched 1263 results. Only the first 1,000 results are displayed. Displaying page 14 of 112 pages.
-
Disturbances at Kenya's Dadaab complex as Somali influx grows
1 Jul 2011 ... Yesterday saw serious disturbances in the Dagahley section of the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya. ... As of June 6th we had opened three emergency centres in Dadaab. Since then a further 27,000 people ...... -
Rainfall, disease, hitting refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia
15 Nov 2011 ... More than a month after the kidnapping of three aid workers in Kenya's Dadaab refugee complex, ... to gradually resume full operations despite continued security incidents in and around Dadaab. ...... -
Sudanese refugees find fame in Japan, raise money for education in Africa
26 Jul 2010 ... talent on display in the Dadaab complex of three camps, home to 260,000 refugees in eastern Kenya. ... that provided huge entertainment for the mainly Somali refugees at Dadaab earlier this year. ...... -
UNHCR seeks funds to respond to flooding in Dadaab refugee camps
6 Nov 2009 ... in the two camps - Kakuma in northwestern Kenya and Dadaab in the east on the Somalia border. ... different parts of the camps, particularly Dadaab, which is actually a complex of three camps. ...... -
UN refugee agency offers aid for up to 100,000 displaced Kenyans
7 Jan 2008 ... of blankets and soap from its warehouses in Dadaab, north-eastern Kenya to Nairobi for onward delivery. Trucks carrying the aid were expected to leave Dadaab on Monday evening and are expected to ...... -
Curbing time-consuming, dangerous searches for firewood
15 Jul 2014 ... DADAAB, Kenya, 15 July (UNHCR) - Two years ago Amina Noor was seeking firewood on the edge of the Dadaab camp with relatives when an armed man appeared, shouting that they were stealing his trees. The ...... -
16 Days of Activism: Special office in Kenyan refugee camp helps victims of sexual violence
30 Nov 2009 ... DADAAB, Kenya, November 30 (UNHCR) - In Hagadera, one of three sprawling refugee camps in north-west Kenya's Dadaab region, there's a group of women who call themselves "survivors." They are victims ...... -
Thousands of Somalis continue to flee to north-eastern Kenya
27 Mar 2009 ... The number of Somalis seeking refuge in the overcrowded Dadaab refugee camps in north-eastern Kenya ... the three adjacent refugee sites that make up the Dadaab camp complex - Hagadera, Ifo and Dagahaley. ...... -
Kenya: 900 of 5,000 Somalis at Mandera now moved
25 Jun 2002 ... far been moved to Dadaab refugee camp in five convoys since June 19. A sixth convoy was expected to depart this morning for Hagadera refugee camp, one of the three camps in Dadaab, which is home to ......