Sudanese refugees killed in Kenya

Seven refugees have been killed and scores injured in violent clashes in Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. The UN agency reported that fighting broke out late on Sunday between rival groups of Dinka people respectively from the Bor and Bahr al-Ghazal regions of southern Sudan. The conflict is thought to have started between “two refugees at a water trench”, UNHCR said. In a statement, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said NGO and UNHCR staff had been temporarily withdrawn from the camp as a security measure. Clashes had continued on Tuesday, although no further casualties were reported, he said.

According to UNHCR estimates, there are currently over 60,000 refugees in Kakuma, mainly from southern Sudan. In 1998, a similar incident in the same camp left six refugees dead and several others seriously injured. “Conflicts and tensions in Sudan itself have been occasionally reflected in hostility between different groups of refugees in Kakuma camp,” Janowski said.