Relief supplies dispatched to Somali refugees in Ethiopia
Briefing Notes, 6 February 2009
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 6 February 2009, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
UNHCR and its humanitarian partners are dispatching staff and essential relief supplies to the border area of Dolo-Ado, in the Somali Region of south-east Ethiopia where there are now an estimated 10,000 new asylum seekers who have fled insecurity in neighbouring Somalia since the beginning of the year. About 150 people are now crossing the border each day and it is likely that number of new arrivals will increase further over the next few weeks.
Earlier this week, UNHCR dispatched three trucks carrying an assortment of relief items from Addis Abeba. These include 3,000 mosquito nets, 5,000 blankets, 5,000 jerry cans and 3,000 kitchen sets. Additional trucks are being loaded with 3,000 plastic sheets, registration materials for 10,000 refugees, two generators, 10 water tanks, a water pump and 3,000 mats. All these items are expected to reach Dolo Ado today.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has sent food rations for two weeks and is airlifting high-nutrition biscuits from its emergency stock in Tanzania. The World Health Organization (WHO) is pre-positioning vaccines, medicines and other medical supplies based on their emergency checklist, while UNICEF is looking at supporting the water sector and eventually the primary education sector.
We have obtained a formal authorization from local authorities to establish a camp around Dolo-Ado. UNHCR team has also identified structures for use as offices and as a compound.
The influx has increased after Ethiopian forces ended their two-year presence in Somalia last month.
Tens of thousands of Somalis are fleeing conflict and drought into Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Kenya Floods Threaten Refugees
Flood waters in north-eastern Kenya in mid-November, caused havoc in the Dadaab refugee complex of three camps. Over 100,000 of the 160,000 refugees have been badly affected by the flooding, particularly in Ifo camp. Refugees' homes were swept away and latrines have overflowed and collapsed. The main supply route linking Dadaab to the rest of Kenya has been cut by the rains, blocking all aid deliveries by road.
To get refugees to safety on higher ground, UNHCR started transferring people to Hagadera camp, 20kms away – often using donkey carts. A series of airlifts has brought in fuel for generators, emergency health kits, tarpaulins, and shovels to fill sandbags to keep the flood waters at bay. Essentials items such as plastic tarpaulins, sleeping mats, and food have been distributed to refugees who lost everything.
These floods have been compared to the massive flooding which followed the record 1997 El Nino rains that swamped much of low-lying eastern Kenya.
Posted on 29 November 2006
Kenya Floods Threaten Refugees
Post-Tsunami Recovery in Puntland
Away from the glare of the international spotlight, Somalia in the Horn of Africa was also hit by last December's Asian tsunami which rolled across the Indian Ocean. UNHCR, as part of an integrated UN emergency response, distributed life-saving supplies, including plastic sheets, blankets, and kitchen sets, to some 45,000 Somalis living along a severely damaged 650km strip of coast in the northeast.
A year on, the area is getting back to its pre-tsunami state with UNHCR and its partners now making the leap from providing emergency aid to investing in development projects. In an effort to improve the lives of the inhabitants of one of the poorest places on Earth, UNHCR has begun rehabilitating schools, building markets and women's centres, as well as constructing roads to help economic development.
The UN's relief efforts are concentrated in a 650km stretch of coastline between Hafun and Garaad in northeast Somalia, an area also known as Puntland. In war-ravaged Somalia, Puntland is a relatively peaceful self-declared autonomous enclave.
Post-Tsunami Recovery in Puntland
Flood Airdrop in Kenya
Over the weekend, UNHCR with the help of the US military began an emergency airdrop of some 200 tonnes of relief supplies for thousands of refugees badly hit by massive flooding in the Dadaab refugee camps in northern Kenya.
In a spectacular sight, 16 tonnes of plastic sheeting, mosquito nets, tents and blankets, were dropped on each run from the C-130 transport plane onto a site cleared of animals and people. Refugees loaded the supplies on trucks to take to the camps.
Dadaab, a three-camp complex hosting some 160,000 refugees, mainly from Somalia, has been cut off from the world for a month by heavy rains that washed away the road connecting the remote camps to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Air transport is the only way to get supplies into the camps.
UNHCR has moved 7,000 refugees from Ifo camp, worst affected by the flooding, to Hagadera camp, some 20 km away. A further 7,000 refugees have been moved to higher ground at a new site, called Ifo 2.
Posted in December 2006
Flood Airdrop in Kenya
Ethiopia: Arriving in Assosa
Zeneib was living in her husband's village in Sudan's Blue Nile state when it was attacked. She lost three brothers and then endured tremendous hardship on the journey to Ethiopia with her children.
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.
Somalia: Help at Home
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, on a visit to Somalia, urges stepped up assistance to people inside the country.
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