In a press release received by Hiiraan Online the agency said the new Ifo II camp that was to ease the severe overcrowding in Dadaab remains unused as Ifo, Dagahley and Hagardheer initially designated to hold 90,000 people now shelter over 380,000.
“Women and children have made the most incredible journeys, walking for weeks through the desert and braving hunger and attacks by armed robbers and wild animals, to get to the camps in Kenya. They arrive extremely weak and malnourished, and the least that we can do is ensure that there is water, food and care for them when they get here,” said Joost van de Lest, head of Oxfam in Kenya.
“It is tragic that vulnerable families are trapped in limbo, forced to endure appalling conditions while there are fully functioning services right next door. Their basic needs are being ignored,” said Van der Lest.
Oxfam said despite the huge influx of new arrivals that jam-packed the inhospitable refugee camps, Ifo II remains empty as the government of Kenya has refused to allow people to move in.
The agency said 60,000 new arrivals are now instead sheltering in basic tents outside the camp boundaries, with limited access to clean water or toilets, risking an outbreak of disease.
“The new camp stands idle and closed as Somali refugees pour into Kenya, its water systems, latrines and healthcare facilities are ready to be used” Oxfam in the press statement
The agency urged the Kenyan and international governments to heed the UN Refugee Agency's call to open the camp and take quick action to ensure conflict and drought-devastated Somalis have access to emergency humanitarian aid.
The Ifo II extension camp has capacity to hold about 40,000 refugees, which would significantly ease the overcrowding in the existing camps. Work to prepare the new camp was completed in late 2010.
Oxfam’s concern comes at a time when tens of thousands of Somali refugees are fleeing the worsening food crisis and ongoing conflict in the Horn of Africa reion.
The charity is worried that the refugee crisis in the region is growing on worsening trend with crippling drought conditions and ongoing conflict forcing 1,400 people a day to seek refuge at the Dadaab complex in northeast Kenya. 70,000 Somali refugees have also arrived at the Dolo Ado camps in Ethiopia.
Oxfam stressed that the Kenyan government deserves recognition for taking on much of the burden of Somalia’s refugee crisis over the years, allowing hundreds of thousands of people into the country when other nations have closed their eyes to the crisis.
Oxfam called on the international community to provide more funds and support to help Kenya cope with the influx, and to step up efforts to promote a lasting solution to the humanitarian crisis inside Somalia, from which so many refugees are fleeing.