Food distributed as calm returns to refugee camp

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday resumed its food distributions in Kakuma refugee camp, northwestern Kenya, after several days of fighting between Sudanese refugees and the local Turkana community. A total of 9,000 people who had not received their bi-monthly ration last Friday due to the unrest were being given food, said WFP spokesman Robin Lodge. A further 8,000 who were displaced due to the fighting and were camped in schools, churches and public buildings were also being given food. Many of these were forced to flee from their homes and their supplies were looted. In total, some 30,000 refugees were displaced by the fighting, which erupted last week when local Turkana found a stolen cow in the camp. Kakuma camp remained calm on Thursday, Emmanuel Nyabera, spokesman for the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) told IRIN. No incidents had been reported over the last 48 hours. The body of a 17-year-old Turkana boy, believed killed in earlier fighting, was found on Wednesday, bringing to the death toll to 12, he said. Meanwhile, UNHCR is expected to start processing and moving 335 Sudanese refugees who were stranded in a transit centre in the town of Lokichoggio - about 80 km from the refugee camp - due to the fighting, Nyabera added. Humanitarian flights into southern Sudan from the humanitarian base at Lokichoggio - which were cancelled for about 36 hours - were back to normal on Thursday, said Ben Parker, spokesman for the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan.