Friday, July 8, 2011

Many 'dying en route' while fleeing Somalia drought

Hui Min Neo in AFP: Many people are dying of hunger while fleeing serious drought in Somalia, the UN refugee agency said Friday, warning that aid efforts could be overwhelmed by large numbers of malnourished refugees. "Many people are dying en route from what we hear," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.

She could not give details on the death toll, but said the people were dying of malnutrition and that there were harrowing accounts from mothers who had lost children on the way and others who were forced to leave sick family members behind.

Fleming added that UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres, who is in Ethiopia to examine the aid response, reported that "his biggest concern was that those who arrived, and who are the most needy... probably about to die, be rushed to be helped immediately."

"There shouldn't be any waiting, if they were lucky enough to make it across the border. If they do make it, they should survive once they are in the hands of the international community," stressed the spokeswoman. About 1,700 Somalis are arriving daily at the Dollo Ado area in southeast Ethiopia, while in neighbouring Kenya about 1,400 each day reach the overcrowded Dadaab refugee camp, said the UNHCR....

Aerial view of Sarax Darandoole, Somalia, shot by Simisa, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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