Overview
The worst drought in 60 years has caused the world's most
severe food crisis in East Africa with more than 12.4 million
people currently in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNHCR
is on the ground delivering life-saving emergency
relief. 90% of your donation will go directly to the
field to help people in need, so please donate
now.
Since January 2011, UNHCR has seen a massive influx of
Somali refugees into Ethiopia, Kenya, Yemen and Djibouti (currently
over 950,000) placing immense strain on the ability of the
local governments to respond to the crisis. Within Somalia
itself, more than 1.5 million are internally displaced.
The UN Food
Security Nutrition Analysis Unit has now lifted its "famine"
designation for three Somali regions - Bakool, Bay and Lawer
Shabelle - downgrading them to "emergency" phase. The improvement
follows a break in the region's deadly drought and progress in the
UN's ability to deliver food to the country's neediest people.
However, while access to food has improved, mortality remains high
because of the outbreak of diseases such as acute diarrhea and
measles.
In the Ethiopian camps of Kobe and Hilaweyn, a nutrition
survey has found high levels of malnutrition among children under 5
years of age. Refugees at all camps arrived from Somalia in
extremely poor health. In response, health and nutrition programs
have been set up by a range of experienced partners to address
malnutrition, especially among the youngest children. In Kenya,
recent rains and flooding are believed to have contributed to an
outbreak of cholera. To manage the outbreak, UNHCR and partners
have set up cholera treatment centres for severe cases.
In a positive development, despite continuing
malnutrition, the number of deaths among children under 5 has
decreased when compared to the very high levels seen at the height
of the refugee influx earlier in 2011. This reflects improved
access to health care and improved water and sanitation facilities.
UNHCR is continuing to monitor this trend carefully.
We urgently need funding to support our existing refugee
camps in Kenya (Dadaab) and Ethiopia, and to establish new ones to
continue to provide shelter, food, water and protection for new
refugees. Please donate today!
Note: Should the funds raised exceed
the amount required to meet the immediate and longer term needs of
the people in the affected areas, Australia for UNHCR will
direct donations to our Emergency Programs for Refugees to enable
us to rapidly address future emergencies as they occur.
How we help
UNHCR staff are distributing high energy biscuits for instant
calories and micronutrients to those arriving in Dadaab Refugee
Camp in Kenya. Shelter and water facilities, nutritional
treatment centres and health and sanitation services are being put
in place to cope with the needs of the Somali refugees who continue
to arrive at the camps.
July 14th 2011 saw an extension to the already overcrowded Ifo
camp at Dadaab in Kenya. This extension has been able to absorb a
further 90,000 Somalis who have been relocated here.
In Ethiopia, UNHCR had initially prepared for 10,000 new
arrivals for 2011. The current number of Somali refugees, however,
is 18 times this figure. With thousands of new arrivals
each month to the Dollo Ado camp, the massive influx is creating
enormous challenges for UNHCR.
UNHCR has been able to deliver more than 100 tonnes of relief
items including food, shelter, health services and other
life-saving aid supplies. These are life-saving interventions and
ones that you can support. With many camps already reaching
capacity and some far exceeding their limits, resources are
stretched. Since January 2011, UNHCR has distributed 59,071
Emergency Assistance Packages (EAP) reaching more than 350,000
persons in distress inside Somalia. About 75 percent of recipients
were in southern Somalia, including in areas controlled by both the
Transitional Federal Government and Al-Shabaab.
You can help UNHCR care for these refugees - please donate
now and help provide high energy biscuits for
malnourished children, medical treatment, shelter and emergency
support.
News
SOMALIA: UNHCR chief Guterres calls for scaled-up aid effort inside Somalia - 30 August 2011
DOLLOW, Somalia, August 30 (UNHCR) – UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres visited Somalia on Tuesday and called for greater efforts to provide life-saving aid to tens of thousands of displaced Somalis inside their country.
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KENYA: IKEA Foundation gives UNHCR US$62 million for Somali refugees in Kenya - 30 August 2011
GENEVA, August 30 (UNHCR) – The IKEA Foundation has donated US$62 million to UNHCR for the agency's expanding operation to help tens of thousands of Somali civilians at the huge Dadaab refugee complex in north-east Kenya.
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SOMALIA: Somali exodus slows in Horn of Africa but grows in Yemen - 26 August 2011
GENEVA, August 26 (UNHCR) – The number of people fleeing their homes in Somalia on a daily basis has been falling this month, but a growing number of Somalis have been risking the high seas to reach Yemen.
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ETHIOPIA: Saving Somali children: Striving to stave off a health crisis in Ethiopian camp - 26 August 2011
KOBE REFUGEE CAMP, Ethiopia, August 26 (UNHCR) – Every grave tells a story and today the gravedigger relates the tale of a little Somali girl. First, she had diarrhoea. Then a fever and rashes surfaced on her body. Her eyes turned red. Over five days her condition grew worse. Finally, 10-year-old Hawaba Maday Issak perished. She was the fourth child in her family to die in the last 45 days.
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KENYA: UNHCR distributes aid to 30,000 displaced Somalis in past week - 19 August 2011
NAIROBI, Kenya, August 19 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency said Friday it is continuing to distribute emergency aid to displaced people in southern and central Somalia, reaching some 30,000 of them this week alone.
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ETHIOPIA: UNHCR aid makes a difference in Mogadishu, but still not enough - 18 August 2011
MOGADISHU, Somalia, August 18 (UNHCR) – Kadija is in shock. Over the past two weeks, the 32-year-old Somali has lost her livelihood, fled her rural home and ended up in a dismal settlement in one of the most dangerous cities on earth.
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ETHIOPIA: UNHCR addresses "alarming" level of child mortality in Ethiopian camp - 16 August 2011
DOLLO ADO, Ethiopia, August 16 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency said Tuesday that child mortality rates at a camp for Somali refugees in eastern Ethiopia have reached "alarming" levels, with an average of 10 children under the age of five dying every day since the facility opened in June.
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HORN OF AFRICA CRISIS - Humanitarian Update - 12 August 2011
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 12 August 2011, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
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ETHIOPIA: In Ethiopia, UNHCR moves more Somalis into new camp amid measles vaccination - 9 August 2011
DOLLO ADO, Ethiopia, August 9 (UNHCR) – Some 4,000 Somali refugees have been moved to a new camp in Ethiopia in an ongoing operation to decongest areas hosting recent arrivals from famine-hit Somalia.
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KENYA: Helping the most vulnerable in Dadaab - 10 August 2011
DADAAB, Kenya, August 10 (UNHCR) – Her right leg is twisted outward at a 45-degree angle just below the kneecap. And when Bishara Hassan Hussein steps forward with her baby wrapped against her body, it seems as though she has a branch sticking out from her body. The leg throbs with a constant pain, especially when she walks fast or for long distances.
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SOMALIA: UNHCR launches landmark aid airlift to Mogadishu - 8 August 2011
GENEVA, August 8 (UNHCR) – A UNHCR-chartered aircraft carrying emergency aid for thousands of displaced people landed on Monday afternoon in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. It was the first UNHCR aid airlift to the beleaguered city in five years.
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ETHIOPIA: UNHCR helps relocate Somali refugees to new camp in eastern Ethiopia - 5 August 2011
DOLLO ADO, Ethiopia, August 5 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency, in partnership with the Ethiopian government and the International Organization for Migration, on Friday began the relocation of nearly 15,000 Somali refugees who have been living in a crowded transit centre in the eastern region of Dollo Ado.
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SOMALIA: Drought and displacement in Somalia: Fleeing from dust and starvation - 2 August 2011
DAGAHALEY REFUGEE CAMP, Kenya, August 2 (UNHCR) – Abdulahi Haji Hassan gazes at the exhausted and confused faces of his family and contemplates the toll that drought and famine has taken on their lives. His two-year-old son, Madey, leans listlessly against his mother's breast.
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SOMALIA: Fighting hampers aid effort inside Somalia amid fears of spreading famine - 2 August 2011
NAIROBI, Kenya, August 2 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency's plans to deliver assistance to up to 180,000 people in Mogadishu and south-central Somalia are being threatened by the latest fighting in the Somali capital.
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EAST AFRICA: UNHCR seeks US$145 million in fresh appeal for Horn of Africa emergency - 28 July 2011
GENEVA, July 28 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency on Thursday appealed for an extra US$8.6 million to expand its humanitarian assistance in the East and Horn of Africa. This comes as severe famine and continuing violence aggravate the mass displacement of people both inside Somalia and across its borders.
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SOMALIA: UNHCR transfers Somalis to new camp as fresh fighting erupts in Mogadishu - 29 July 2011
NAIROBI, Kenya, July 29 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency reiterated on Friday that a new camp in north-east Kenya was open and receiving thousands of Somali refugees as renewed fighting in Mogadishu raised fresh concerns about the safety of civilians in the beleaguered city.
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SOMALIA: Famine victims converge on Mogadishu; region's camps report deaths - 22 July 2011
GENEVA, July 22 (UNHCR) – Uprooted by famine and conflict, more than 20,000 desperate people have sought refuge in the Somali capital Mogadishu so far this month. Thousands more continue to flee into the region, some on the brink of death.
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SOMALIA: UNHCR boosts aid delivery inside Somalia - 19 July 2011
GENEVA, July 19 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency is increasing the delivery of emergency aid in Somalia's south and west while tracking the movement of people into neighbouring countries in order to improve assistance.
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KENYA: UNHCR starts emergency airlift of tents to Kenya, Ethiopia - 18 July 2011
NAIROBI, Kenya, July 18 (UNHCR) – The first airlifts of UNHCR tents have arrived in Ethiopia and Kenya and are being rushed to the borders with Somalia to shelter thousands of emaciated Somali refugees fleeing conflict and drought.
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KENYA: UNHCR welcomes camp extension at Dadaab, Kenya - 15 July 2011
GENEVA, July 15 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has welcomed Kenya's decision to open a new camp extension for Somali refugees fleeing conflict and drought back home. This extension will help to ease pressure on existing camps struggling to absorb tens of thousands of new arrivals.
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KENYA: "We're in a crisis right now": World's biggest refugee camp sees alarming spike in child deaths - 11 July 2011
DADAAB, Kenya, July 11 (UNHCR) – With the worst drought in 60 years gripping huge swathes of east Africa, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres spent Sunday touring this vast refugee complex to see for himself the desperate situation for the thousands of Somalis now arriving here every week.
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SOMALIA: UN Official Urges Massive Response for World's 'Worst Humanitarian Disaster' - 11 July 2011
SOMALIA: Having witnessed the dire humanitarian situation in Somalia first-hand, the head of the United Nations refugee agency has appealed for greater resources to provide assistance to people in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa country.
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ETHIOPIA: UNHCR appeals for $136.3 million as Horn of Africa crisis grows - 8 July 2011
DOLLO ADO, Ethiopia, July 8 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has appealed for $136.3 million to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe amid a growing exodus of Somalis fleeing conflict and drought in their homeland.
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SOMALIA: UNHCR concerned about malnutrition levels among new Somali refugees - 5 July 2011
GENEVA, July 5 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency is concerned about the high incidence of malnutrition among Somali refugees flowing into Ethiopia and Kenya amid a devastating drought in their conflict-racked country.
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SOMALIA: 50,000 civilians flee Somalia in first quarter, double from a year earlier - 29 May 2011
GENEVA, April 29 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency said Friday that an increasing number of Somali civilians were fleeing their country amid the deteriorating security situation, with 50,000 arriving in neighbouring countries in the first quarter of this year compared to 23,000 in the same period in 2010.
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