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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Conflict and drought force more than 50,000 Somalis to flee to Kenya this year
25 Sep 2009 ... in the Dadaab complex of camps, which currently host three times the population they were designed to hold. In mid-August, UNHCR embarked on a programme aimed at decongesting Dadaab and started ...... -
UNHCR appeals for $92 million to assist Somali refugees in Kenya
19 Dec 2008 ... The emergency assistance to Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, focuses on relieving dramatic ... The 17-year-old Dadaab camp complex is located in remote eastern Kenya near the Somali border. With ...... -
Kenya flooding
14 Nov 2006 ... recent days as rising waters destroyed hundreds of homes in the mainly Somali camps near Dadaab. ... A UNHCR assessment team was yesterday unable to reach Dagahaley, 20 km from Dadaab, as roads leading ...... -
UNHCR responds strongly to jaundice, hepatitis outbreaks in Dadaab
28 Sep 2012 ... outbreak of acute jaundice in the world's largest refugee settlement, Dadaab in north-east Kenya. The programme in the Dadaab complex - home to more than 470,000 Somali refugees - is focusing on ...... -
Airlift for Kenya flood victims
17 Nov 2006 ... made homeless by massive flooding in Kenya's Dadaab region after heavy rains swept across the ... cargo aircraft will make three flights into Dadaab's airfield on Sunday from Nairobi to deliver ...... -
Registration of Somali refugees in Kenya resumes
3 Nov 2006 ... the asylum-seekers from Liboi to the camps in Dadaab, some 80 km away, will only be authorised once ... Only those without previous registration records will be transferred to the Dadaab camps. Some of ...... -
Health concerns in Ethiopia camps, start of school year for refugee children in Dadaab
2 Sep 2011 ... In Kenya, this coming Monday marks the start of the new school term and at Dadaab, the largest ... to already pressing needs at Dadaab for more classrooms, desks, stationery, textbooks and teachers. ...... -
Emergency assistance programme for Somalis in Kenya's Dadaab camp
19 Dec 2008 ... The emergency assistance to Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, focuses on relieving dramatic ... The 17-year-old Dadaab camp complex is located in remote eastern Kenya near the Somali border. With ...... -
Kenya
... As of 31 December 2021, Kenya hosts over 540,000 refugees and asylum-seekers mainly living in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps as well as urban areas, including the capital, Nairobi. Women and ......