Monday, August 03, 2009
A statement from the UNHCR said Guterres will also hold a series of meetings with senior Kenyan government officials and tour overcrowded refugee camps in northwest Kenya.
"The High Commissioner is scheduled on Tuesday to tour the Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya," the statement said.
The camp hosts 288,000 people, mainly from strife-torn Somalia. Originally designed to accommodate only 90,000 refugees, Dadaab isnow one of the largest and the most congested refugee settlements in the world.
"The High Commissioner is also scheduled to hold talks with President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and other senior government officials," it said.
UNHCR provides protection and supports to over 500,000 Somali refugees in Kenya and nearby countries, and also assists more than1.3 million internally displaced persons in Somalia.
The increasing insecurity in the Horn of Africa nation has prompted a large number of civilians to flee into Kenya, where facilities to host them are stretched to bursting point, raising fears of a major refugee crisis.
Dadaab in eastern Kenya, is home to an estimated 288,000 mainly Somali refugees -- triple its designated capacity. Its Dagahaley, Hagadera and Ifo camps together comprise the largest refugee site in the world.
Delays by the Kenyan government in freeing up land to build a fourth site mean Dadaab is massively congested with inadequate space for sanitary facilities, creating ideal conditions for diseases such as cholera to fester.
Kenyan Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang said Kenya receives approximately 150 refugees daily fleeing from the violence across the border, adding more pressure to the already congested Dadaab refugee camp which holds in excess of 350,000 Somali nationals and whose capacity is 90,000 people, making it one of the world's largest refugee camps.
To address this, the minister said, the government was exploring two options: to decongest the camp by providing more land for expansion and transporting some of the refugees to Kakuma Camp.