“The LWF [Lutheran World Federation] welcomes the decision as a vital
lifesaving measure, especially in view of the current high influx of Somali
refugees fleeing drought and insecurity at home,” the Rev. Martin Junge, the
LWF’s general secretary said July 18 in a letter to Kenyan President Mwai
Kibaki and Prime Minster Raila Odinga.
The LWF, which manages the camp for the U.N. high commissioner for
refugees, is working with other agencies to provide food and water to the
refugees, many of whom are starving children.
The camp, called Ifo II, is an extension of the Dadaab refugee camp in
northern Kenya, which now holds nearly 500,000 Somalis and has become
the world’s largest refugee camp. Ifo II has been standing empty, complete
with new water tanks, lavatories and health care facilities.
On July 14, after touring Dadaab, Odinga announced the government would
allow settlement within 10 days as a humanitarian gesture. The region’s
drought is viewed as the worst in the last 60 years. An estimated 10 million
people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia face starvation and
malnutrition. The U.N. describes it as the world’s most dire humanitarian
emergency.
“Since the camp is already there, I think the decision to open it is a good
one. I welcome it,” Roman Catholic Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, who
is also the Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu told ENInews on July 18.
“It will not solve the problem in southern Somalia, but surely human lives
will be saved,” added Bertin, the president of Caritas Somalia, a Catholic
aid agency.
Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, in a statement
from his Geneva office applauded the opening and promised his
organization’s full support to the government. He said this will ease
overcrowding at the camp.
Andrew Mitchell, the British secretary for international development,
speaking in Nairobi after visiting the Dadaab camp, said the international
community should support Kenya in appreciation of the decision.
