MSF: More refugees to worsen state of Kenya camp

Nairobi Jan 04 2013 (SDN)— An international aid organization says the health thousands of Somali refugees will be threatened if they are moved from the urban areas into a camp near the Kenyan-Somali border.

Earlier this month the Kenyan government decided that all refugees and asylum seekers must return to refugee camps. The decision is seen as targeting refugees from Somalia to return to the large refugee camp complex known as Dadaab.

Kenya has endured months of attacks by explosives and guns which have been blamed on sympathizers of Somali militants.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement Friday that Dadaab is overstretched, well beyond its original capacity of 90,000 people, and to add more refugees will worsen the camp’s humanitarian conditions and increase the risk of disease epidemics.

Source: The Associated Press