UN says 14,000 new Somali refugees in Kenya

New York- US (PANA) -- The United Nations agencies said more than 14,000 new Somali refugees were registered in Kenya in January.
It said the development had added to the refugee population which already far exceeds the capacity of existing camps and support mechanisms.
A statement from the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday "Kenya's porous borders have witnessed continuous refugee flows from the Horn of Africa nation.
" It said the crisis in neighbouring Somalia precipitated increased movements of Somalis over the border into Kenya, with more than 60,000 Somalis crossing the border into Kenya in 2008 alone.
"New arrivals are expected to continue during the course of the year.
Therefore, there is an immediate need to decongest existing camps and accommodate arrivals in new camps with adequate infrastructure, " OCHA stated, citing figures from UNHCR, WFP and UNICEF.
"Equally important is the provision of assistance to cater for the chronically unmet requirements of these populations and - in the interest of conflict-prevention - the local host community has to be catered for as well,'' it noted.
Last year, some 100,000 Somalis sought refuge in the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen.
PANA learnt that the number of Somali refugees in asylum countries now stands at 438,000.
PANA reports that there have been some encouraging developments over the past month in Somalia, which has not had a functioning central government since 1991.
They include the election of the new President in what the UN has hailed as "a fair and open manner'' and the creation of an enlarged Parliament.