UNHCR calls on Kenya to halt Somali returns
Press Releases, 3 January 2007
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
GENEVA – The UN refugee agency expressed concern Wednesday over reports that Kenyan authorities were forcibly returning Somalis who had fled the recent strife in their homeland.
Several trucks carrying Somalis who had sought refuge in a UNHCR-supported reception centre near the Kenyan border town of Liboi were seen heading back towards Somalia on Wednesday morning. The reception centre had been holding some 400 Somali asylum seekers, primarily women and children, who have arrived over the past week.
In Geneva, High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said border security measures should not impair the ability of deserving Somali civilians to enter Kenya to seek safety and protection as refugees.
"We fully appreciate that the situation in neighbouring Somalia is a serious concern to the Kenyan authorities and that governments have a responsibility to ensure border security in such situations," Guterres said. "But Kenya also has a humanitarian obligation to allow civilians at risk to seek asylum on its territory. Most of those in Liboi are women and children and they should not be sent back to a very uncertain situation. To do so would be a transgression of the principle of non-refoulement as defined under the 1951 Refugee Convention."
Guterres said UNHCR had already extended an offer to provide immediate expertise and support to Kenya in dealing with new arrivals from Somalia, helping to ensure that it can meet its international obligations while also addressing its legitimate security concerns.
UNHCR already operates three large refugee camps at Dadaab, about 80 km from Liboi, holding more than 160,000 mainly Somali refugees. It also has several emergency staff already on the ground at Dadaab who can assist Kenyan authorities in dealing with any new influx. More staff could be sent.
About half of the approximately 400 Somalis in the Liboi reception centre had already been screened and registered by Kenyan authorities in a procedure previously agreed with UNHCR. Once they have been registered at the border reception centre, UNHCR normally transfers the newly arrived refugees to the Dadaab camps. But Kenyan authorities, citing security concerns, this week halted the transfers and announced the border had been closed.
Tens of thousands of Somalis are fleeing conflict and drought into Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Dollow: Help inside Somalia
Dollow is a dusty Somali border town with a bridge, 3 km from the Dollo Ado refugee camps across the river in Ethiopia. But many of Dollow's most recent inhabitants are internally displaced people (IDPs) who have no intention of crossing the bridge - constructed with UNHCR's help over 20 years ago - to seek humanitarian assistance. Displaced by drought and famine from the Somali regions of Gedo, Bay and Bakool, these agro-pastoralists overwhelmingly express their wish to return home if the seasonal rains come in October and it is safe to do so.
UNHCR and other UN agencies are providing aid through a variety of local NGOs. Shelter, emergency assistance packages and dry food rations are being distributed while a wet feeding centre provides much-needed sustenance to the estimated 2,000 IDPs in Dollow.
Dollow: Help inside Somalia
The Nubians in Kenya
In the late 1880s, Nubians from Sudan were conscripted into the British army. The authorities induced them to stay in Kenya by granting them homesteads and issuing them British colonial passports. The Nubians named their settlement near Nairobi, Kibra, or "land of forest." In 1917, the British government formally declared the land a permanent settlement of the Nubians. Since independence, Kenyan Nubians have had difficulty getting access to ID cards, employment and higher education and have been limited in their travel. In recent years, a more flexible approach by the authorities has helped ease some of these restric¬tions and most adult Nubians have been confirmed as Kenyan citizens, but children still face problems in acquiring Kenyan citizenship.
The Nubians in Kenya
Somalia Airlift: UNHCR flies aid to Mogadishu for first time in 5 years.
For the first time in five years, UNHCR has been able to airlift vital humanitarian aid to the conflict-ravaged Somalia capital of Mogadishu. Tens of thousands of Somalis, fleeing drought and famine, have descended on the city in recent weeks searching for food, water, medicine and other assistance.
Three UNHCR-chartered aircraft have brought around 100 tonnes of aid to Mogadishu since August 8. The aircraft carried relief items from the agency's emergency stockpile in Dubai. The latest shipment includes high energy protein biscuits, plastic sheeting for shelter, sleeping mats, blankets, jerry cans for water and kitchen utensils.
The UN refugee agency usually delivers relief items to Mogadishu by sea and land for security reasons, but - due to the unprecedented rise in the number of uprooted civilians - UNHCR decided to airlift supplies in order to save time. There are now around half-a-million internally displaced people in Mogadishu.
Somalia Airlift: UNHCR flies aid to Mogadishu for first time in 5 years.
Kenya: In Need of Protection
The legacy of Sudan's civil war haunts many refugees. In Kakuma camp some need special protection to ensure their safety.
Somalia: No Peace Here
Fighting continues to force people to leave areas of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Abduallahi Ali is fleeing from one makeshift camp to another, saying he fears for his life.
Suad's Story
Suad, a student and teacher in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, tells how she's using technology to become self-sufficient and what this means for her family and community.
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