Thousands of would-be refugees languishing in dire conditions

Thousands of would-be refugees are languishing at a transit centre, some 100 km southwest of Djibouti town, after being given a deadline by the government earlier this year to leave the country. Numbers vary from 7,000 to 9,000, but local sources told IRIN the people had not actually been allowed access to the Aour Aousa centre, which was set up in August in anticipation of the government's order. The sanitary conditions were reported to be dreadful and four people had been tested for cholera although three tests had come back negative, the sources said. The outcome of the fourth test was unknown. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, however denied that anyone was sleeping outside the centre and said they were all being looked after. "Nobody is camped out and there is no cholera," UNHCR's regional spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey told IRIN. She said everyone was being given cooked food twice a day, and dry rations would be supplied next week so that people could cook their own food. She admitted that the level of sanitation was poor, but noted that spraying with disinfectant had been carried out. About 3,000 people had attestations from the government saying they had applied for asylum and their cases would be attended to, she added. A further 2,500 people from southern Somalia had been cleared as genuine refugees and they would be moved to a proper refugee camp at Holhol. "For the remainder, their status is yet to be decided," McKinsey said. She said a government eligibility commission would start looking at their cases next week. Aour Aousa is a former refugee camp which was closed in 1999, and reopened at the end of August to house the 3,000 people with attestations from the government. However, thousands more people converged on the centre as the deadline approached. Sources in Djibouti said malnutrition rates and diarrhoea were soaring among the people. The government has reportedly agreed that all the residents can stay put for now until their status is determined. Earlier this year, Djibouti Interior Minister Abdiqadir Du'ale Wa'ays warned all illegal immigrants to leave the country before 15 September. Some 100,000 people - mostly Somalis, Ethiopians and Yemenis - complied with the order, and the rest went to Aour Aousa. Local sources said at the time the order may have been motivated by external pressure.