Bulo Hawa clashes exacerbate refugee situation

The security and humanitarian situation of Somali refugees living in the northeastern Kenyan town of Mandera is becoming increasingly difficult as a result of inter-clan fighting in Bulo Hawa, just across the border in Somalia, a humanitarian source in Mandera told IRIN on Monday.

According to this source, international NGOs, which are providing the refugees with most of the assistance they are receiving, are threatening to suspend operations unless the refugees are relocated to a safer site.

"After Wednesday's [15 May] incident [when four refugees inside Kenya were killed by stray rounds from the Bulo Hawa fighting], the agencies are not prepared to put their people in danger," he said.

The refugees are currently in a temporary camp 500 metres from the Somali border, but the NGOs are reportedly bringing pressure to bear on the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to negotiate a more suitable location with the Kenyan government, the humanitarian official told IRIN.

At least four refugees were killed on 15 May when renewed fighting broke out in Bulo Hawa. The fighting is reported to be between an alliance of the Marehan sub-clans of Rer Hasan, Hawarsame and Habar Ya'qub, supported by the opposition Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), on the one hand, and, on the other hand, by sub-clans sympathetic to Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG). The Marehan clan dominates Gedo Region. [see also]

The Bulo Hawa clashes, in the north of Gedo Region, southwestern Somalia, has sent two waves of refugees into Mandera. The first, numbering about 10,000, arrived last month, while another group of several thousand arrived after last week's fighting, according to aid workers.

The humanitarian situation in the camp at Mandera was now "very serious", a source in the border town told IRIN. "There is not enough food, and what is there is not being distributed due to insecurity."

UNHCR regional spokesman Jonathan Clayton told IRIN that "UNHCR is extremely concerned about the safety of the refugees and is taking all the steps in its power to strengthen security. Therefore we are in close consultation with the Kenyan government on the location of another site."