Home >> World >> World/Regional Organizations UN Ambassador highlights Somalia humanitarian catastrophe at refugee camp + - 16:49, September 14, 2009

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Visiting the world's largest refugee camp, housing refugees from Somalia, on the Horn of Africa nation's border with Kenya, actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN refugee agency Angelina Jolie characterizes the site as "one of the most dire" she has ever seen.



Led by UNHCR Field Officer Maeve Murphy, Jolie who visited the overcrowded camp on Saturday at the Kenya-Somalia border heard about the struggle the agency is facing to contain a humanitarian catastrophe.



On her way to visit the new arrivals area, children ran to greet Jolie. A little boy taught her the Somali handshake and children were soon giggling and offering hands for her to grasp.



According to a news release from the UNHCR received here on Monday, Jolie met a newly arrived young woman with her three small children, two of them infants.



Their distended stomachs and running noses were clear signs of their misery. Sitting down under a tree, Murphy showed Jolie the signs of malnutrition, noting that the family would go to the nearest hospital for care later in the day.



"If this is the better solution, then what must it be like in Somalia?" Jolie asked during her day-long visit to Dabaab, one of three camps that together were designed for 90,000 people but now host some 285,000 refugees.



Traveling through the Dadaab complex, Jolie looked out of the window of her vehicle at heaps of rubbish.



"There is not even enough space for a trash dump, so people live amongst garbage," she said. The car passed numerous water points with jerry cans lined up, waiting for water to arrive.



Murphy explained that the huge numbers of people in the camp meant that water could only be given once every two days.



The Goodwill Ambassador saw first-hand the daily reality of life in Dabaab, where women and children line up for hours every day at water taps which are turned off for hours.



"The toilets are already overflowing," she observed. "There is not even enough space for trash dumps so people are living amongst the garbage."



Jolie was told of a cholera outbreak earlier this year by staff from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the camp, where some families who have made their homes there for years are hosting newly-arrived refugees.



"What is amazing is that as more and more people come into the camp, the Somali families continue to be generous with what little they have, even if that means having one eighth of the water they need and their children suffering from dehydration," she said.



As she walked to meet another family, Jolie noticed a child pulling a water container along by a string.



"We have stopped giving water containers that roll because we are so worried about contamination entering the water, spreading diseases like cholera," explained Murphy. Earlier this year a cholera outbreak at Dadaab was contained thanks to huge teams of humanitarian workers.



"With up to 7,000 people arriving each month, rain on the horizon, they say it will be impossible to contain the next outbreak," warned Jolie.



The visitors stopped at a home cobbled together with branches and plastic sheeting – home to three families.



Under the shade of a tree, one of the families sat waiting for Jolie. Zahra, the mother, arrived in the camp last month, loaded into a wheelbarrow with her youngest child, pushed by her exhausted husband.



"Luckily we found our old neighbor Anab from the Somali capital Mogadishu," she said, nodding to a smiling woman waiting in the doorway of a small room. "We don't have a roof though, just a place to stay," she noted.



Jolie chatted with UNHCR staff as they walked through the windswept, baking camp to meet the next family. Every home they passed was full of people.



"There is no space left to offer, so we rely on the refugees to look after the new arrivals," said Murphy.



Moving over to Anab, Jolie was invited into the small room, shafts of sunlight filtering through the dilapidated roof.



After hearing Anab's description of her daily struggle to survive, with 18 people living in her small shelter, Jolie said: "it is amazing that as more and more people come into the camp they continue to be generous with what little they have."



UNHCR officials said 15 people survive on 100 litres of water every two days, compared to the recommended minimum of 20 litres per person per day.



Looking around the compound, Jolie came away from the latrines area saying, "the toilets are already overflowing."



Before leaving Dadaab, Jolie met with UNHCR Representative to Kenya Liz Ahua, who told her: "If we don't get more land soon, it will be impossible to avert a major humanitarian crisis."



Noting that UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres had received assurances in August that land would be allocated by the Kenyan government within a week. "We hope this happens soon," Ahua added.



At the end of her visit, Jolie noted that "the Somali families I met today are full of warmth and affection. I wish more people could meet them because then they would have a stronger desire to help."



When he visited Dabaab last month, High Commissioner Antonio Guterres was assured by the Kenyan government that it understood the urgency of granting additional land to alleviate overcrowding at the site.



Guterres, who called Dabaab the "most difficult camp situation in the world," pledged UNHCR's support in the interim to boost the refugees' living conditions by upgrading the aging water and sanitation systems, increasing health services and providing adequate shelter and nutrition.



He also committed an additional 20 million US dollars for refugees and the host community in Dabaab, calling for massive international donor support.



UNHCR has recently begun moving 12,000 refugees to the Kakuma camp in northern Kenya as an emergency measure for new arrivals.



Source: Xinhua

