UNHCR moves over 3,000 Somali refugees into Ifo Extension site in Kenya

Friday 29 July 2011

GENEVA - The UN refugee agency has moved more than 3,000 Somali refugees from the outskirts of Kenya's Dadaab refugee complex into the Ifo Extension site in an ongoing relocation movement that started on Monday, 25 July.

The refugees had arrived in recent weeks and months after fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia. They settled spontaneously on the edge of Ifo camp, one of three existing camps in the Dadaab complex. On Monday, UNHCR started moving them to the new Ifo Extension site, which will provide tented accommodation to 90,000 refugees by the end of November. Latrines and water reservoirs have been constructed and are already in use by the 734 families (3,207 people) that have moved to this site.

The sites, previously known as Ifo 2 and Ifo 3, have been consolidated to form the new Ifo Extension. Infrastructure near completion includes a health clinic, three schools and four boreholes that will service the whole site. Over 100 houses that are almost ready will be given to extremely vulnerable refugee families.

Oxfam has installed three water storage tanks with a capacity of 10,000 litres each in Ifo Extension. MSF-Spain is providing primary health care services from its health post located on the outskirts of Ifo camp. It is also planning to construct three additional health posts inside Ifo Extension.

Work has also started in another site, near the Hagadera camp, known as Kambioos, where the land is being cleared. Plots are being demarcated and tents will be erected to accommodate 90,000 people. By the end of November, 180,000 people will have been moved to both the Ifo Extension and Kambioos sites.

While UNHCR's airlifts have brought thousands of tents to Dadaab, they are not enough to meet the needs of the growing refugee population. Some 45,000 tents are needed to provide emergency accommodation. Since the beginning of the year, some 114,000 Somalis have arrived in Dadaab, including about 30,000 awaiting registration on the outskirts of the refugee camps.

In Ethiopia, more than 75,000 Somalis have arrived in the Dollo Ado camps after fleeing their homeland this year to escape the mix of conflict, drought and recent famine. The influx continues at the rate of 240 a day in Dollo Ado and 1,300 daily in Dadaab.

Learn more about the crisis in Somalia and how to contribute by visiting the UNHCR Horn of Africa emergency site. For the latest updates follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

For further information on this topic, please contact:

• In Geneva: Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba on mobile: +41 79 249 3483

• In Geneva: Vivian Tan on mobile +41 79 881 91 74

• In Nairobi UNHCR regional office: Ron Redmond on mobile +254 734 564 019

• In Nairobi UNHCR regional office: Needa Jehu-Hoyah on mobile +254 734 564 018

• In Nairobi UNHCR Kenya office: Emmanuel Nyabera on mobile: +254 773 995 975

• In Dadaab camp, Kenya: William Spindler on mobile +254 71 545 5992

• In Kenya, UNHCR Somalia Office: Andy Needham on mobile +254 733 120 931

• In Ethiopia: Milicent Mutuli on mobile +251 911 207 906

• In Ethiopia: Kisut Gebre Egziabher on mobile +251 911 208 901