Somalis crowd refugee camps

AL Jaazeera Africa

Drought, civil war and rising food prices have forced tens of thousands to flee to Kenya and the capital. Last Modified: 05 Jul 2011 21:08

Tens of thousands of Somalis fled their country in June, marking another rise in the flood of refugees streaming into neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya. Many come to Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world, where around 1,400 people are arriving each week. Dadaab was built to house 90,000 people; it's now home to more than 350,000. Many children suffering from malnourishment are reported to have died on the long trek to the camp or within a day of arriving. Behind the crisis lies a devastating mix of civil war, rising food prices and one of the worst droughts to hit the Horn of Africa in modern history. The hardline al-Shabab militia, which is fighting the weak Transitional Federal Government in Somalia, has banned aid organisations from operating on the rich farmland it occupies, forcing residents to flee to the capital, Mogadishu. Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri reports from Nairobi.

Source: Al Jazeera

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