Drought-stricken Somalis flee to Ethiopia, Kenya

World

Drought-stricken Somalis flee to Ethiopia, Kenya

Close

Thousands of Somali refugees took refuge in Ethiopia and Kenya due to worsening drought.

12 July,2011 10:46 am

According to the United Nations Refugees Organisation, up to one thousand Somalis are crossing the Ethiopia border every day. The camp at Dolo Ado now holds some 100, 000 refugees.The UNs refugee agency said that it is building more camps with capacity to hold another 120,000 refugees from Somalia. According to reports the camps do not have sufficient food to feed the refugees.The situation on the ground is very worrying at the moment because people are moving in quite large numbers into Ethiopia and into Kenya, said Mark Bowden, U.N Humanitarian coordinator for Somalia after visiting the camp.Hospitals in the Somali capital Mogadishu are reporting more malnourished children among refugee fleeing the drought. The malnutrition and mortality rates among children are said to have sky-rocketed over the past few months.