UN deplores killing of Somali refugee leader at Kenya camp

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Antonio Guterres, on Saturday condemned the recent killing of a Somali community leader in the Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya.

Guterres, voiced his deep regrets about the ‘senseless’ killing of the refugee leader, who was the chairman of the Community Peace and Security Team in Hagadera camp. He was shot several times as he entered his compound on Thursday evening.

The man, whose name has not yet been released, was rushed to a camp hospital but died while being evacuated to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for further treatment. The gunmen reportedly escaped from the camp, UNHCR said.

Guterres said the refugee-run Community Peace and Security teams are instrumental in helping maintain security at the camps. Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee settlement and shelters more than 460,000 people.

On December 22, the United Nations voiced alarm after a series of bomb blasts killed three policemen near the refugee settlements in the Dadaab area. Insecurity has grown consistently since October 2011, when two expatriate aid workers were abducted.

According to the UNHCR, conflict, violence against civilians, drought and famine have forced an estimated 295,000 people to flee Somalia this year. More than half of that number have found shelter at the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, while others sought refuge in Ethiopia, Yemen and Djibouti.

The UNHCR said Somalia remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than 950,000 Somalis living as refugees in neighboring countries, while another 1.46 million are internally displaced.