Raho Ali with 4 children is among the tens of thousands flocking to the Kenyan Refugee Camps in the Northern border town of Dadaab in a new wave of Drought.
According to UNHCR, 80,000 new refugees arrived in Kenya from Somalia in the last few months following the occurrence of the drought which greatly affected the country.
The 45-year-old mother of 7 said that the hard-hitting Drought in Somalia prompted her to flee and seek relief in Kenya. Three of her children disappeared following a gun attack on them while on the treacherous journey and she has yet to locate them.
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“On our way to Dadaab Refugee Camp, I was meeting different challenges. People were dying of hunger and starvation. Personally, I even lost three of my children on the journey I really do not know where they are,” she explained to Voice of America-VOA.
The Government of Kenya has given out a ban on the registration of new refugees on the Northern border with Somalia, but the UNHCR says that it has profiled 80,000 new arrivals in the last few months.
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In a statement, the head of the UNHCR in Dadaab Guy Avognon said that the wave has overstretched our work and resources because this is an operation that does not attract a lot of Donor attention. So, we are providing the barest minimum of assistance that we can.
The health manager for the International Rescue Committee-IRC Kongani Athanus agreed with Guy Avognon by explaining that “The population was not planned prior to like 6-7 months ago. But we have seen cases increasing recently for the past 3-4 months.
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With a 5th failed rainy season, it is feared that the drought crisis in the Horn of Africa will only worsen with parts of Somaliland approaching famine, and more refugees are expected in the camps as well.
Notably, the Humanitarian Agencies say that they are worried about the dwindling attention from the International Community on the Crisis and are appealing for more assistance.
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In an explanation, Avognon stated that “we are making plans for more arrivals, but we also appeal to the International Community to really pay attention to this side of the world, because there does not seem to be much attention coming our way, probably out of other priorities internationally.”
