UNHCR says US$35 million flash appeal for Somali refugees is a matter of urgency

GENEVA, October 17 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency said a flash appeal announced Tuesday for Somali refugees in Kenya was urgently needed as the rapid influx was stretching the assistance capacities of humanitarian agencies operating on the ground.

A statement from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the United Nations had issued a US$35 million flash appeal to meet the needs of growing numbers of refugees in north-east Kenya over the next six months.

UNHCR's portion of the appeal - still subject to internal approval - is for US$10.2 million to plan, coordinate and implement the emergency response in collaboration with other UN agencies. The UN fears that escalated fighting between warlords and the Islamic Courts Union could lead to a further exodus.

"Today's joint flash appeal announced by OCHA is urgent," said UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis. "As of today, more than 34,000 Somalis have fled to Kenya since the beginning of the year, fleeing increased violence in southern and central Somalia.

"We fear this figure could climb to 80,000 by the end of the year. Dadaab [in north-east Kenya] already hosts 160,000 refugees in three sites, so we would need to find a new location for new arrivals," Pagonis added.

In the past two weeks, the arrival rate reached 1,000 a day on several occasions, and 2,000 per day on October 4-5. A total of 14,000 Somalis have crossed into Kenya since September 1. UNHCR will lead the emergency response in collaboration with other key UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.

The UN is also worried about health issues. A three-year-old girl was diagnosed on October 13 with polio in one of the three sprawling camps in Dadaab. The girl had reportedly received all necessary vaccinations but still contracted polio - the first case in Kenya in more than 20 years. A team composed of government officials, UNHCR, the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund is on the way to Dadaab to organise a response to the threat.

Meanwhile, at the request of the government of Kenya, UNHCR has suspended operations at the Somalia-Kenya border for the past few days so that it can set up a more efficient screening and registration process for new arrivals.

"We're doing this because we've seen evidence that some refugees in the Dadaab camps have tried to cheat the system by registering twice so that they can get extra ration cards," Pagonis said in Geneva. "As a result of the suspension, we are increasingly concerned about the situation at the border, especially in Liboi, where there are some 2,500 people now at the reception centre who are without assistance," she added.

The refugee agency has deployed additional staff members to Dadaab to implement emergency registration procedures, which include fingerprinting all new arrivals. An information campaign is also being initiated to discourage those who attempt to cheat. The campaign includes working closely with refugee leaders and explaining to them the asylum policy in Kenya.

UNHCR hopes to resume convoys to and from the border in a few days, as soon as these new measures are in place. Meanwhile, the agency is still allocating plots to refugees in Dadaab, and recent arrivals are now building their shelters.