Somali refugees flee to Kenya as drought, malnutrition cases rise

Source: Somaliland news & information about Somaliland and the Horn of Africa, By Chief Editor on September 21, 2022

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says caravans of undocumented migrants from Somalia are fleeing into Northern Kenya due to drought.

This comes as the Horn of Africa grapples with the worst drought in decades, malnutrition and livestock deaths from six consecutive seasons without any rainfall.

MSF said in a statement that its community outreach teams at the Dagahaley refugee camp in Kenya have witnessed an increase in new arrivals from Somalia, most claiming to have left because of the drought In July, MSF teams recorded over 300 new arrivals – likely a gross underestimate. UNHCR has said that some 4,000 people have arrived in Kenya since June 2022,” the group said.

In June, MSF warned that failing crops and rising food prices, combined with insecurity and a massive invasion of locusts that swept across the Horn of Africa, were pushing hundreds of thousands of people from rural areas to urban centres.