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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Youth Skills Training in Ifo Camp, Dadaab, Kenya: A UNHCR Women Leading for Livelihoods Project
5 Feb 2009 ... Youth Skills Training in Ifo Camp Dadaab, Kenya A UNHCR Women Leading for Livelihoods Project ... Among the 220,000 refugees living in the three Dadaab camps, where most of the population is from ...... -
UNHCR transfers Somalis to new camp as fresh fighting erupts in Mogadishu
29 Jul 2011 ... In the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex, UNHCR staff are working flat out to relocate refugees who ... and we are very grateful for that," said Fafa Olivier Attidzah, head of UNHCR's office in Dadaab. ...... -
Kenya: concern for Somali refugee security
24 May 2002 ... from the north-eastern Kenya border town of Mandera to Dadaab - a three-day, 500-km journey. ... On the three-day journey to Dadaab, the refugees will pass through remote, bandit-prone terrain ...... -
Heavy rains kill boy, leave over 25,000 refugees homeless in Kenya
3 May 2005 ... DADAAB, Kenya, May 3 (UNHCR) - Thousands of Somali refugees have been left homeless after heavy rains destroyed shelters in Dadaab camp, north-eastern Kenya. Food and relief items have been ...... -
"Before it comes to my house, let me run"
22 Jun 2009 ... DADAAB, Kenya, June 22 (UNHCR) - Habiba Abdi Rahman Mude is from the Medina district in Mogadishu. ... recently arrived with her son, Muse, in the Dadaab refugee settlement in north-east Kenya, where ...... -
Somali refugees suffer as Dadaab camp populations swell to 230,000
23 Dec 2008 ... DADAAB, Kenya, December 23 (UNHCR) - The rows of emergency tents have reached the perimeter of Ifo camp in Dadaab, which means that the UN refugee agency has finally run out of space to put newly ...... -
Deputy High Commissioner Chamberlin visits flood-hit camps in Kenya
18 Dec 2006 ... DADAAB, Kenya, December 18 (UNHCR) - UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Wendy Chamberlin ... "This is my second visit to Dadaab this year. When I came in February, you were facing ...... -
Kenya floods
3 May 2005 ... north-eastern Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, leaving more than 25,000 Somali refugees homeless. A majority of refugees' shelters in Ifo - one of the three camps in Dadaab - collapsed or were washed ...... -
Conflict and drought force more Somalis to flee to Kenya
25 Sep 2009 ... in Dadaab camps in northern Kenya, which currently host three times the population they were designed to hold. In mid-August, we embarked on a programme aimed at decongesting Dadaab and ......