RIGHTS-KENYA:
A Humanitarian Disaster Looms Amongst Somali Refugees
Joyce Mulama
DADAAB, North-eastern Kenya, Jun 26 (IPS) - For Aaliya Omar Alas, Mar. 20, 2006 is a source of bitter memories. Her husband and son were killed on this day in Somalia, during violence that also dispersed the remaining members of the family.
"I am sad because I lost both my husband and sonŕI do not know where the rest of my family members, four daughters and one son, are. We scattered as we were fleeing the violence," she told IPS at Ifo refugee camp, where she arrived in April. The camp is one of three set up in the vicinity of a town called Dadaab in the arid north-east of Kenya.
Alas now waits for news of her surviving children.
"I pray that a good Samaritan brings me my children. I heard that they came to Garissa. Even if they come, I have nothing to give them, but at least we will be together." (Garissa is the district in which the refugee camps are located.)
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 10,000 Somali refugees made their way to the camps around Dadaab from January to May 2006 as a result of renewed violence in their country - while about 500 more have been received this month. The total population of the Dadaab camps already stood at over 130,000 before the latest influx, with most of these refugees being from Somalia.
"We need additional money to deal with the new arrivals. If we have a big influx tomorrow, we might not be able to provide for them according to standards," Niaz Ahmad, the UNHCR's field officer in Dadaab, told IPS.
"We have constructed makeshift toilets and shelters, but we do not have enough canvas to construct more structures," he added.
The shortages that Ahmad speaks of are all too evident. Makeshift huts are roofed with tattered polythene paper, cartons and old clothing - none of which provides adequate protection.
"It is very cold at night. A lot of mosquitoes pass through the holes in our hut. This is dangerous to the baby, but what can I do?" asks Dahira Maalim Abdi, pointing to the mosquito bites on the face of her six- month-old granddaughter, this in reference to the threat posed by malaria.
To date, no outbreaks of disease have been reported. But UNHCR representative Nemia Temporal says insufficient resources combined with overcrowding at the camps means that the likelihood of outbreaks is becoming greater.
The agency has appealed for 2.5 million dollars to help provide sanitation, proper shelter, food and other supplies for new refugees from Somalia.
Over 300 people have been killed in the East African country over the past few weeks, while 1,500 have been injured and 17,000 displaced in the renewed conflict, according to U.N. figures.
The violence began when faction leaders who formed part of the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, allegedly funded the United States as part of its war on terrorism, began opposing Islamic courts that had been set up to restore order to the capital of Mogadishu.
Earlier this month, Islamic militants belonging to the Union of the Islamic Courts took control of the city; Mogadishu had previously been controlled by faction leaders, the fall of Muhammad Siad Barre's government in 1991 having unleashed years of mayhem in the capital, and elsewhere in the country. The Islamic militants have also taken over Jowhar, north-west of Mogadishu - another former stronghold of the faction leaders.
While an interim Somali government began functioning in 2004, it enjoys little support. The insecurity in Mogadishu has kept legislators out of the capital; they presently operate from the south-central town of Baidoa.
Last week, government and leaders from the Union of the Islamic Courts meeting in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum agreed to cease hostilities, and to recognise each other; the Jun. 22 deal was brokered by the Arab League.
Another round of talks between the two groups is expected Jul. 15.
However, reports indicate that on Saturday, Hassan Dahir Aweys - an opponent of Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf - was appointed to head a council that will advise the union. The council was also set up over the weekend. Additional reports state that Aweys has been banned from visiting the United States because of alleged links with terrorism.
Observers note further that faction leaders who were not party to the Khartoum talks may jeopardise the agreements reached there and create further havoc in Somalia. This might cause still more people to flee to neighbouring countries as refugees, including children like eight-year old Said Mohamed Abdullahi.
"I ran away from the recent civil war. I am not in school now, but was going to school in Somalia," he told IPS.
"I hope that the war will soon end so that I can go back to school (and) finish my education, because I want to be an engineer." (END/2006)
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