Displaced aliens to be relocated to UN camp
More than 300 foreigners who fled their homes due to post-election violence will be moved to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana District. The UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has completed arrangements to move the refugees from Nairobi’s Jamhuri Park. They are mainly from Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi and had joined 1,200 displaced Kenyans at the park. The first group of 150 refugees will be ferried to Kakuma on Friday. The others will be moved next week and alternative accommodation will be arranged in Nairobi until then.
Earlier this week, the Government announced that Jamhuri Park would be closed on Wednesdayas a camp for displaced people.
Officials say more than 600 people have been killed and 300,000 displaced in the violence that followed the announcement of presidential election results on December 30.
In Nairobi, 12,000 people are camping in churches, police stations and other public buildings after they fled their homes.
On Monday, UNHCR registered the refugees who wanted to transfer from Jamhuri Park to Kakuma. Nearly half of those who gave their names are registered as refugees with the UN agency.
A statement from the UN refugee agency said: “Most of these people came from the Kibera slum and the densely populated areas of Kariobangi and Huruma in eastern Nairobi. Some refugees told UNHCR that they had been threatened in their neighbourhoods, while others said their dwellings had been burnt.”
Mr Noel Calhoun, a UNHCR social worker, said: “More than 75 per cent of the refugees we have interviewed are willing to go to Kakuma. This says something about the trauma the refugees have gone through. Usually, we face a lot of resistance when we advise refugees to go to the camps.”
The Kakuma refugee camp is near the Kenya-Sudan border, 960km north of Nairobi.
Calhoun said refugees would be moved “depending on the security situation between Nakuru and Eldoret”.
He added that police escort might be needed to ensure the safety of the refugees.
In Uganda, UNHCR is planning to move Kenyan refugees away from the border.
UNHCR spokesperson, Mr William Spindler, said: “In the next five days, we plan to move up to 6,000 Kenyan refugees from three border locations — Malaba, Busia and Lwakhakha — to the Mulanda transit centre, 35km inside Uganda.”
Ugandan authorities estimate there are more than 6,500 Kenyan refugees in the country. Most have been accommodated in homes, while others are camping in schools.
On Wednesday, Spindler told a press briefing in Geneva that there were no reports of largescale new arrivals from Kenya since Sunday.
“Our five-member team at the border, together with the district authorities, is meeting today with Kenyan refugees and will inform them about the possibility of voluntary relocation to Mulanda transit centre, where accommodation, assistance and services will be provided,” he said.
Once this was complete, Spindler said UNHCR would register the Kenyan refugees. He said 500 tents had been taken to Mulanda to shelter the refugees.
He said other partners and the Ugandan Red Cross would be responsible for the provision of water, sanitation, food, mattresses, stoves and kitchen sets.
“Kenyan refugees will be hosted at Mulanda transit centre for several weeks. The length of their stay will depend on developments in Kenya,” he said.
East African Standard
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