10 Somali refugees die in Mandera

Disease and malnutrition have claimed the lives of 10 Somali refugees in the northeastern Kenyan town of Mandera, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said on 31 May.

The UN refugee agency expressed "grave concern" over the situation in the border area, where the refugees died over the past six days, and from which Kenyan authorities have prevented aid agencies from moving thousands to a safer location, said a UNHCR spokesman in Geneva.

The refugees - estimated at between 3,500 and 5,000 - fled to the northeastern Kenyan town of Mandera in April from inter-clan fighting in Bulo Hawa, just across the border in Somalia. They are currently in a temporary location called Border Point 1, which is some 500 metres from Somalia. "The location is within firing range if fighting erupts in Bulo Hawa again," UNHCR spokesman Rupert Colville warned. At least four refugees were killed when renewed fighting broke out there on 15 May.

According to Colville, eight children were among the dead and about 70 children had been admitted to hospital this week, suffering from malnutrition. He said that although most of them were receiving therapeutic feeding, about 800 children "remain at risk of severe malnutrition if food is not delivered in the next two days".

The refugees included some 400 pregnant or lactating women, and 2,000 children, UNHCR said, adding that serious cases of malaria, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, anaemia and abdominal parasite infections had been found among the refugees.

UNHCR is negotiating with the Kenyan authorities in a bid to either create an alternative temporary site near the border, or transfer the refugees to existing refugee camps in other parts of the country. "In the meantime, UNHCR would like to at least be allowed to establish an emergency therapeutic feeding centre within a safe distance from the border," Colville said.