Economy

UN refugee agency eyes Sh150m aid from Kenya

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UNHCR’s Yvonne Ndege on November 16, 2017. PHOTO | KANYIRI WAHITO | NMG

The refugee agency has asked Kenyans to chip in and help cover the Sh150 million deficit required to run the Dadaab Refugee Camp.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Kenya said the money raised would help the agency run the camp for six months.

Food rations for refugees in Kenya, mainly from war-torn neighbouring South Sudan and Somalia, have been cut several times due to funding shortages.

The cash crunch comes amid increased global refugee crises, especially in Syria and the northern Africa.

“Earmarked funding for Africa and displaced communities from traditional donor countries like the US and the European Union has seen a steady decline and continues to drop,” UNHCR Kenya spokesperson Yvonne Ndege said at the launch the funds drive in Nairobi on Thursday.

“This negative shift in funding is having a terrible effect on refugees across the continent.It calls for new homegrown ideas for refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers on our doorstep.”

Kenya has tried to shut Dadaab, once the world’s largest camp, which it says was being used by Islamist militants from Somalia as a recruiting ground for attacks on Kenyan soil. The camp has about 350,000 Somali refugees.