Several famine-stricken families in Kenya’s northwestern Turkana district have reportedly migrated from their homes and are arriving at the nearby Kakuma refugee camp, news organisations reported. The area district commissioner Peter Mooke told journalists this week that about 12,000 people from the community were living around the camp. UNHCR on Tuesday distributed food and non-food items to the group in a gesture aimed at “trying to help the local community”. “It was a one-off gesture done in consideration of the suffering of the local community,” a UNHCR spokeswoman told IRIN on Thursday. “It is not something that UNHCR plans to do in future, there are no guarantees for this.” Contrary to press reports alleging that the Turkana families had moved to the camp because of the current famine, she said the community had gathered at Kakuma on Tuesday just for the distribution. “There is no evidence of camping in the area,” she added.
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