UN voices alarm after bomb blasts hit near Kenya refugee camps

UN voices alarm after bomb blasts hit near Kenya refugee camps

2011-12-22 20:28:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) on Thursday voiced alarm after a series of bomb blasts hit near refugee camps in Kenya earlier this week and in recent months, killing three policemen. Several others have been injured.

The three Kenyan police officers were killed in bomb blasts near the refugee settlements in the Dadaab area of Kenya's North-Eastern province. The latest victim died as a result of an explosion on Monday. The camps in Kenya shelter more than 460,000 refugees, the majority of them from Somalia.

Following Monday's attack, another improvised explosive device (IED) went off near the market in the vicinity of the Ifo refugee camp. There were no casualties, but a police vehicle sustained damage. Four Kenyan police officers have also been injured in the attacks since October.

"We are deeply concerned for the well-being and safety of Somali refugees in Dadaab, most of whom are women, children and elderly," said António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "For the sake of refugees and those who are there to help them, it is of paramount importance to preserve the peaceful and civilian character of the camps."

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), conflict, violence against civilians, drought and famine, have forced an estimated 295,000 people to flee Somalia this year. More than half of that number have found shelter at the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, while others sought refuge in Ethiopia, Yemen and Djibouti.

But insecurity has grown consistently since October, when two expatriate aid workers were abducted, limiting aid agencies to only deliver life-saving assistance - mainly food, water and health services. UNHCR and its partners are exploring options in order to enable full operations.

Furthermore, the situation in Dadaab has been more complicated in recent months by an outbreak of cholera, believed to have started among new arrivals who were infected in Somalia or en route to Dadaab. Although the outbreak is now on a downward trend, UNHCR has registered 897 cases, and three deaths, since August.

The UNHCR said Somalia remains one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with more than 950,000 Somalis living as refugees in neighboring countries, while another 1.46 million are internally displaced.

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