Somali Refugees in Kenya to be Relocated for Safety: UNHCR

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 22, 2002

Somali Refugees in Kenya to be Relocated for Safety: UNHCR

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Tuesday that it plans to relocate about 3,500 Somali refugees from Mandera, a Kenyan town near Somalia, to a refugee camp in two weeks time.

Security and humanitarian situation of Somali refugees living in Mandera is becoming increasingly difficult as a result of inter-clan fighting in Bulo Hawa, a Somali area near the border with Kenya, said UNHCR country spokesman Emmanuel Nyabera.

Nyabera was reacting to reports that some international non-governmental organizations (NGO), which are providing the refugeeswith most of the assistance, are threatening to suspend operationsunless the refugees are relocated to a safer site.

The NGOs are reportedly bringing pressure on the office of UNHCR in Nairobi to negotiate a more suitable location with the Kenyan government following the incident in which four Somali refugees who were living in makeshift shelters in Kenya were killed by stray bullets.

Nyabera said the UNHCR is extremely concerned about the safety of the refugees and is taking all the steps in its power to strengthen security in the refugee camps.

"Our temporary arrangement as negotiations are still going on is to move them 10 kilometers from the border point," the spokesman said.

"The UNHCR is shocked by the killing of innocent civilians who were seeking safety from more than four weeks of fighting in theirhome area," the UNHCR said in a statement issued in Nairobi last week.

The clashes in southwestern Somalia has sent two waves of refugees into Kenya.

The first wave, numbering about 10,000, arrived last month, while another group of several thousand arrived after last week's fighting, according to UN aid workers.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Study Shows Chinese Youths' Poor in Creative Ability ( 28 Messages)

UNDP Starts Research on Chinese Women in WTO ( 9 Messages)

China-Designed Turbojet Joins Air Force ( 8 Messages)

China Sets to Land on Moon by 2010 ( 5 Messages)

China Announces World Cup Squad ( 2 Messages)