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7 Sudan Refugees Killed in Kenya
At least seven Sudanese refugees were killed and scores injured after fighting broke out in a camp in northern Kenya, a U.N. spokesman said Tuesday.
The fighting took place late Sunday in Kakuma camp after hundreds of Dinka tribesmen from two different parts of southern Sudan clashed over a water trench, said Dominik Bartsch, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Details of what caused the fight were sketchy. Bartsch said it wasn't clear if it was over resources or instead was some dispute lingering from Sudan. Or simply tension ``that has grown in the context of living in a refugee camp.''
It also wasn't clear what weapons the refugees were fighting with, but Bartsch said they could have included rifles, machetes and agricultural tools.
No fighting has been reported since Sunday, he added, and reinforcements were brought in.
Kakuma is in one of Kenya's most inhospitable regions, where banditry and cattle rustling are common and Kalashnikov assault rifles are easy to obtain.
The camp now holds some 90,000 refugees, about 63,000 of whom are southern Sudanese. Security is provided by 73 Kenyan policemen permanently based at the camp, Bartsch said.
Staff from the U.N. commission based in Kakuma have been restricted to the agency's heavily guarded compound since Sunday.
UNHCR officials plan to meet with refugee leaders Wednesday to assess the security situation.
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