Concern mounts over Somali refugees

An unprecedented influx of refugees from Somalia into the northeastern Kenyan town of Mandera is putting a heavy strain on the local population in the arid district, where malnutrition levels have risen to between 30 and 40 percent in recent weeks and tension is reported to be rising.

At the same time, international relief organisations are concerned over reports to the effect that refugees who had fled the fighting in Bulo Hawa, in Gedo Region, were being forced to return to their country by pressure from the Kenyan authorities for them to do so, according to humanitarian sources.

"We would like to stress that the Mandera population is under extreme stress, and the new refugee influx is putting a strain on its resources," an official with the Irish NGO Trocaire told IRIN on Friday.

Divisions were also emerging between the Somalis over whether or not to relocate to Dadaab refugee camp, in Turkana District, northwestern Kenya, some 500 km to the south, Ron Redmond of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Friday.

The inter-clan fighting which started in Bulo Hawa in April has sent two waves of refugees into Mandera: the first, of some 5,000 refugees, entered it nearly a month ago; the second, at the beginning of May, brought the total to about 10,000, according to UNHCR.

More than 6,000 of the people displaced by the fighting were now living just inside Somalia, having been forced to leave Mandera, after Kenyan authorities used threats and intimidation, the BBC reported on Tuesday. "The police came to the camp and told us through loudspeakers to leave Mandera in two days or face the consequences," it quoted one of the affected refugees as saying.

Attempts by IRIN to reach either the local or central authorities in Kenya for comment were unsuccessful.

A good number of the 10,000 Somali refugees who had been camping in and around Mandera went back to Bulo Hawa and surrounding villages last weekend, following meetings with Somali clan elders who had urged them to return, the UN refugee agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

It has said it remains concerned about the fluid security situation inside Somalia, and appealed to Somali clan elders and local Kenyan authorities not to pressure the refugees to return.

Meanwhile, international NGOs helping the refugees remaining in Mandera (who are said to lack adequate food, medicine, drinking water or shelter) are said to be close to suspending operations unless the refugees are relocated to a safer site.

The current site, dubbed Border Point 1, is barely 500 metres from the border and considered a "very dangerous" location for refugees due to its proximity to the scene of the fighting inside Somalia.

High on the agenda of agencies negotiating with the Kenyan government - which is already host to some 250,000 refugees - is the possibility of moving the refugees from their current vulnerable location to a more suitable site seven kilometres inside Kenyan territory.

However, efforts to bring this about have met with little success so far, and NGOs, "quite frustrated with the Kenyan government's attitude", are considering how they may persuade the authorities to reconsider, either by involving the donor community or by making a public statement, according to humanitarian sources.

Kenya has long been wary of refugee flows from Somalia, especially in light of the public perception that they may add to insecurity, and the authorities insist that the Somali refugees in Mandera must return to their country or transfer to Dadaab.

"Most of the refugees don't want to go there. Their argument is that their situation is only temporary, and that they would return to Somalia as soon as the fighting is over," one aid official told IRIN. "They don't want to go too far from the border."

UNHCR remains concerned about the security of refugees at the point "because of its close proximity to the unsafe Kenya-Somalia border," and would prefer to shift those waiting in Mandera to a safer interim site further from the insecure border, Ron Redmond stated on Friday.

During a visit to the site on Wednesday, staff saw armed militia patrolling the border and a nearby Somali village, he said.

The agency has also noted that at least four refugees at the site were killed by stray gunfire and seven others injured by shrapnel during an upsurge of fighting in Bulo Hawa, just across the border, on 15 May. And plans for food distribution at the site were disrupted last weekend as the sound of gunfire from across the border rocked the refugee encampment.

Meanwhile, the refugee agency is going ahead with preparations to move some 3,500 Somali refugees who have registered to go to Dadaab. Plans are being finalised for the transfer to the camp, which is already home to some Somali 130,000 refugees, according to UNHCR figures.

The first transfer convoy of up to four buses is due to leave on the three-day journey by the end of this week. Poor road conditions, coupled with heavy rains, are expected to make for slow movement of the convoys, which will also pass through remote and bandit-prone territory requiring armed police escorts.