Tensions rising in Kenya as Somali refugees flood over border

Oct 2, 2008, 11:23 GMT

Nairobi - Tensions are rising at the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp complex in North-West Kenya as a massive influx of Somali refugees fleeing a brutal insurgency across the border stretches the facilities to breaking point, a UN official said Thursday.

The complex, made up of three separate camps stretching over 50 square kilometres, now hosts 215,000 refugees - the vast majority of them Somali. It was set up 16 years ago to hold only 90,000.

Local residents, who have long been unhappy with the impact of the camp on the community, are losing patience with the seemingly endless stream of refugees.

They have been staging demonstrations and have handed over an official letter of protest to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

'We have been working with the community, but they have a feeling that much more needs to be done,' Emmanuel Nyabera, UNHCR's information officer in Kenya, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

'We are looking at the document and are hoping we can have a meeting with the government tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,' he continued.

Nyabera said that an area has been identified for a fourth camp and that discussions on final approval were underway.

However, locals are unlikely to be appeased by an increase in the capacity of the camp. The desert region - in recent years hit by both drought and floods - is far from an economic powerhouse.

Residents in the region want to see more jobs being handed out locally and are concerned about the environmental impact of the camp

An aid worker based in Dadaab, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told dpa that locals were demonstrating daily and demanding that the refugees leave. There have also been reports of locals stoning passing UN vehicles.

Almost one million Somalis have fled the brutal insurgency, which seems to be only getting worse.

Most of those fleeing the violence in the capital city Mogadishu remain displaced within Somalia, but the flow to Kenya remains constant despite the border being officially closed.

'This year alone, have received 45,000 refugees,' Nyabera. 'We are getting up to 5,000 refugees every month.'

Almost daily battles have blighted the Horn of Africa nation since Ethiopian troops invaded in 2006 to kick out the Islamist regime and put the transitional federal government back in power.

Islamist insurgents have since fought back, taking over the key port town of Kismayo and hammering Ethiopian, government and AU peacekeeping troops.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting, with aid agencies now estimating almost 10,000 have died since the insurgency began in early 2007.

The government and moderate opposition figures have signed a peace agreement, but it has had no effect on the day-to-day violence as insurgent group al-Shabaab has rejected the deal.

Ethiopian troops must leave before any peace can be negotiated, al-Shabaab says.

The Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by chaos and clan-based civil war since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.