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.
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East and Horn of Africa Update: Somali Displacement Crisis at a Glance, 17 October 2011
17 Oct 2011 ... worker shot; two abducted at the Ifo 2 West refugee camp, Dadaab, Kenya. • Humanitarian agencies step up security in and around Dadaab complex of camps. • UNHCR and partners suspend ...... -
East and Horn of Africa Update - 10 December 2012
14 Dec 2012 ... • Kenyan Government allows two-week Dadaab camp registration Registered Somali Refugees ... – In a two-week registration exercise in the Dadaab camps, 4,445 new arrivals were registered. ...... -
Kenya Fact Sheet
Mar 2015 ... 4 offices located in: Nairobi, Kakuma, Dadaab, Alinjugur UNHCR Factsheet-Kenya United ... Refugees and Migration (PRM), Ann Richard visited Dadaab on 11 February. During her visit, Ms. ...... -
Promising practices: prevention, risk mitigation and response with practices from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Iraq.
22 May 2020 ... in the market in the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab © UNHCR/Sebastian Rich Layout & design: BakOS ... Reducing violence against women and girls by engaging men in accountable practices (EMAP), in Dadaab...... -
The Environment in Refugee Operations: We Need to Care
1 Jun 2001 ... in Djibouti 5 Some Lessons Learned in Dadaab 6 Environmental Coordinators Meet 9 Reader’s ... independent evalua- tion of a free firewood distribution programme in Dadaab camps, eastern Kenya. ...... -
Return to Somalia: No longer a refugee
7 Aug 2015 ... They have been living in exile for years, hosted in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp located ... Dadaab has been a safe haven for refugees from Somalia, since it was initially set up in 1991 when ...... -
Kenya sees 20,000 Somali refugees arriving in just two weeks
24 Jun 2011 ... Over the past two weeks the Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya has received more than 20,000 ... During 2010, Dadaab received an average of 6,000 to 8,000 Somalis every month. This year the monthly ...... -
UNHCR moves over 3,000 Somali refugees into Ifo Extension site in Kenya
29 Jul 2011 ... Somali refugees from the outskirts of Kenya's Dadaab refugee complex into the Ifo Extension site in ... They settled spontaneously on the edge of Ifo camp, one of three existing camps in the Dadaab ...... -
UNHCR chief visits Somali port of Kismayo, meets refugee returnees
12 May 2015 ... - Twenty-two-year-old Ali Abdi Madar was born and raised in Kenya's sprawling Dadaab refugee camp. ... not easy. "I have finished my secondary school [in Dadaab], but I still cannot find a job," he said. ......