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Sh211 million appeal for the homeless
DAILY NATION Correspondent
Publication Date: 2007/04/05
A Sh211 million appeal fund has been launched for victims of violence in Mt Elgon region.
The Kenya Red Cross appeal covers the next six months, during which the cash would be used to help 62,000 people displaced by the fighting over land since last December. (See chart inset for appeal bank accounts.)
Red Cross secretary-general Abbas Gullet said yesterday the organisation was on ground conducting regular assessments to determine emerging needs.
He said the situation was worsening with families migrating to safer grounds in Kapsokwony and Cheptais divisions.
Bad to worse
“Food security is deplorable and sanitation poor for lack of water,” the official said.
Mr Gullet said more displacements were being recorded regularly. “There is growing displacement and with the escalation of the clashes, the number of the displaced is expected to rise,” he warned.
Speaking at the Red Cross headquarters in Nairobi, Mr Gullet said 10,292 families had been internally displaced and 144 lives had so far been lost. Among the dead are 30 children. Thirteen adults have also succumbed due to health and other complications arising from the clashes. A total of 101 have died directly from the clashes, while 115 people are nursing bullet wounds, panga cuts and burns in Bungoma and Mt Elgon hospitals, he said.
“Most residents have been left extremely vulnerable, their houses have been burnt, food stocks destroyed and their livestock and livelihood threatened,” the relief agency reported.
Red Cross explained that the Sh211 million being sought would cater for both food and non-food items for the affected people. The money would also be used to help restore family links, said the secretary-general.
The most adversely affected areas, the agency said, were Cheptais, Kopsiro, Chesikaki, Kimabole, Kaptama, Kapsokwony and Chebyuk in Mt Elgon District, and Chwele, Malakisi, Mayanja, Changara, Machakha, Tulienge, Tamlega, Sirisia and Lwandanyi in Bungoma District.
The fights are concentrated in Tuikut, Kopsiro and Kapsokwony, the Mt Elgon District headquarters.
Most of the displaced people were camping in markets, churches, and schools, or were living with relatives nearby, said the organisation. Some people have fled to Uganda, according to Mr Gullet.
The Red Cross noted that Huruma area was completely deserted, with only a few families staying at the market.
The agency named the primary schools closed down in Kopsiro Division as Chepkao, Chepkurkur, Banan Tega, Kapyum, Kaboriot, Kapchebuk, Cheptendant, Kubra and Kabukwo.
There were also many cases of unaccompanied minors, it said, raising the possibility of
abuse.
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