Somali refugees in Mandera to be relocated

The Kenyan authorities have asked the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to relocate about 10,000 Somali refugees who have been living in the northeastern Kenyan border town of Mandera, the Nairobi-based Sunday Standard reported on 12 May. The Mandera district commissioner, Jamleck Baruga, was quoted by the paper as saying he had met UNHCR officials, who told him they would comply.

The UNHCR regional spokesman, Jonathan Clayton, told IRIN that the agency and the Kenyan government were "exploring the possibility of relocating the refugees away from the border point". Most of the refugees were said to be just 500 metres from the border. Clayton said the government was fully cooperating with UNHCR on this matter. "It is providing asylum to the refugees, and has indicated willingness to continue doing so," he said.

The refugees fled inter-clan fighting in the border town of Bulo Hawa in the north of Gedo Region, southwestern Somalia, last month after fighting broke out there among rival factions of the Marehan clan. Humanitarian sources in Mandera said the situation in Bulo Hawa was not yet conducive to a return of the refugees. "The town is still insecure, with a lot of militia roaming around," one of them said.

According to UNHCR, 80 percent of the refugees are women and children, currently settled in temporary shelters in Mandera or staying with relatives or friends there.

The humanitarian source said a temporary camp would be set up "in and around Mandera for a two-month period", and the refugees currently sheltering near the border would be moved to it, thereby resolving one of the Kenyan government's concerns. According to this source, the current troubles in Bulo Hawa "will most likely subside soon and they will go home", and therefore there was no point in relocating this particular group to Dadaab or Kakuma refugee camps.