NAIROBI: Hundreds of refugees in Kenya’s Dadaab camps have been affected by a cholera outbreak as the population in the facilities grows rapidly, a humanitarian charity said Tuesday.
Doctors Without Borders, known by French acronym MSF, said that 2,786 refugees have been affected so far “and there is an imminent risk of outbreaks of other gastro-intestinal diseases.”
The Dadaab camps host more than 300,000 people and with the biting drought in neighboring Somalia, the numbers are on the rise, consequently straining water and sanitation services.
There are plans to open another camp in the complex to accommodate new arrivals and ease overcrowding.
“All efforts to ease the overcrowding must include significant investment in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector to ensure a minimum standard of living for refugees in all the camps,” said Hassan Maiyaki, MSF country director in Kenya.
MSF has urged stakeholders to respond urgently to the crisis in Dadaab and address sanitary conditions and prevent the further spread of diseases.
In 2016, the Kenyan government had announced plans to close down the Dadaab camps, citing insecurity because of reports that extremists from Somalia’s Al-Shabab group were hiding there and the camps being a conduit for smuggling weapons.
The United Nations urged Kenya to reconsider that plan and continue to offer refuge to victims of violence and trauma.
The discussion on the closure has since then been on and off, with several ultimatums given to the UN refugee agency, the latest being in 2021.
Humanitarian group MSF calls for support for refugees in Kenya affected by cholera crisis
https://arab.news/zhwuw
Humanitarian group MSF calls for support for refugees in Kenya affected by cholera crisis
- Hundreds of refugees in Kenya’s Dadaab camps have been affected by a cholera outbreak as the population in the facilities grows rapidly
- A biting drought in neighboring Somalia has increased the camps’ numbers
Maduro arrives in New York after capture by US
- The 63-year-old leader was to be taken first to the offices of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, then to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, according to US media
NEWBURGH, United States: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived Saturday evening at a military base in the United States and was transferred to New York City, after his capture by US forces in Caracas.
FBI agents surrounded Maduro as he descended from a US government plane and slowly escorted him along the tarmac at a National Guard facility in New York state.
The leftist leader was then flown by helicopter to Manhattan, where a large law enforcement contingent awaited, AFP images showed.
The 63-year-old leader was to be taken first to the offices of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, then to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, according to US media.
The detention center is the same jail where rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was held throughout his trial last year.
Maduro and his wife are to be arraigned at an unspecified date before a judge in New York. They have been charged with “narco-terrorism,” importing tons of cocaine into the United States, and possession of illegal weapons.
