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UNHCR flies in more humanitarian
supplies to Kenya
UNHCR
By Emmanuel Nyabera
in Nairobi, Kenya
25 Feb 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya, February 25 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has
flown 2,345 lightweight family tents to Kenya for use by tens of
thousands of people displaced in different parts of the country
during post-election violence this year.
UNHCR chartered a Boeing 747-400 to transport the tents from its
emergency stockpiles in Dubai and the aircraft landed in Nairobi
on Friday. A further 2,655 lightweight tents are being shipped
from Dubai to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
This is the second airlift of aid to Kenya by UNHCR since violence
erupted in western parts of the country after the December 27
presidential and parliamentary polls. A first flight on January 17
brought in 19,600 bales of plastic sheeting to be used for shelter,
40,000 mosquito nets and 15 generators.
"We hope to deliver these tents to the most affected displaced
people before it starts to rain next month," said Alice
Ballah-Conteh, head of UNHCR's emergency response team in Nairobi.
Kenya has two rainy seasons, with the first running from March to
May.
Since early January, UNHCR has distributed 10,000 family kits, 758
tents and 50,000 sanitary towels in parts of the country hit
hardest by the violence, such as Rift Valley Province and the
capital, Nairobi.
"With the current calm being experienced in Kenya, UNHCR expects
to reach many parts of the country that could not be accessed
earlier due to insecurity," said Ballah-Conteh.
Tens of thousands of Kenyans are still living in more than 200
sites for internally displaced people (IDP) across the country.
More than 80,000 IDPs, meanwhile, have moved back to their rural
home areas, with many living with relatives or friends. This is
putting a strain on the resources of those hosting them.
Last week, a UNHCR team visited the district of Kisii in western
Kenya and found that some 44,600 people were living with friends
or family. Most of these people worked on the tea plantations in
Kericho district, some 80 kilometres away.
The UNHCR team also noted that hundreds of mixed marriage families
had been separated due to the inter-ethnic strife in Kericho,
which is dominated by the Kalanjin people. "A number of [ethnic
Kisii] women we talked to in Kisii told us sad stories of how they
had been forced to flee with their children and leave their [ethnic
Kalanjin] husbands behind because they were in inter-ethnic
marriages," said Ballah-Conteh, who led the team.
The UN refugee agency plans to distribute humanitarian supplies to
IDPs in both Kisii and Kisumu, another region affected by the
violence.Meanwhile, UNHCR has sent a site planner to the town of
Nakuru in Rift Valley Province to help the government and the
Kenya Red Cross Society consolidate IDP settlements.
Most of the displaced people currently hosted in public buildings
and church compounds are to be moved to consolidated sites, where
they will have better access to aid and protection. UNHCR has
trained more than 30 Red Cross volunteers and government officials
in camp management and coordination.
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