Kenya refugee crisis worsens as thousands flee South Sudan

A boy stands next to people washing their clothes in a stream at a camp run by UN in Juba. AFP 

By BD CORRESPONDENT

The refugee crisis in Kenya is set to escalate with more than 300 South Sudan nationals fleeing fighting in Juba arriving at the Kakuma refugee camp daily.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said it had registered 3,173 new exiles by Sunday evening as others crossed the borders to Uganda and Ethiopia.

About 23,546 South Sudanese refugees have arrived in Uganda since the conflict erupted a month ago while the UN agency had registered 5,300 in Ethiopia.

 

“They are now crossing at a rate of up to 2,500 people a day,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva on the exodus to Uganda, which is also receiving refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

“We still have 8,000 new Congolese arrivals at three reception centres in western Uganda, so our staff and our supplies are stretched,” Ms Fleming said.

The fighting in South Sudan began last month when President Salva Kiir said soldiers loyal to former deputy president Riek Machar, dismissed last July, reportedly launched an attempted coup.

Representatives of Mr Kiir and Mr Machar are meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in talks mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire.

UNHCR is operating with a reduced staff of 200 people in South Sudan because of fighting and insecurity but it continues to supply services to some 230,000 refugees at 10 camps.

Another 57,000 civilians have taken refuge in 10 UN compounds throughout the country. The UN Mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, is protecting approximately 62,000 civilians at its bases.

UNHCR and WFP together have distributed food rations to the refugees for 45 days instead of the normal 30 days, just in case relief services are disrupted.