Emergency aid distributed to stranded immigrants

The Red Cross and Red Crescent have distributed emergency relief supplies to thousands of people stranded at a refugee camp in Djibouti. According to a statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the one-off distribution of water and sanitation equipment and basic non-food items was carried out on Monday and Tuesday at the Aour Aousar camp, some 100 km southwest of Djibouti Town. About 9,000 people - from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, Sudan, Rwanda and Iraq - have converged on the camp in recent weeks following a Djibouti government order expelling more than 100,000 illegal immigrants. An assessment conducted last week by ICRC delegates revealed an urgent need for clean water as well as materials to build shelters at the camp, which was originally designed for only 3,000 people. The operation followed a request from the Djibouti government for the Djibouti Red Crescent Society to provide short-term relief at the camp until a longer term solution can be found. "The most pressing needs are in terms of shelter and sanitation," said ICRC head in Djibouti Pascal Cuttat. "This is a country with endemic cholera ... They are all at risk now and we need to stabilise the situation in the short term."