The United Nations and the Kenyan Government have come in for a fresh round of criticism for the continued closure of a multimillion-dollar refugee camp that is standing empty despite the deepening humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has been accused of misdirecting
the media by renaming scrubland adjacent to empty facilities, rather than sealing a deal with Kenya to open up a camp that cost international donors US$60 million ($73 million) to build and has been left locked since November last year. On a visit last month, the Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, said the camp would be opened by July 24.
"To the thousands of desperate Somalis arriving every day, the sight of a fully equipped refugee camp standing empty must be the ultimate rebuke," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
The New York-based watchdog called on the Kenyan Government to immediately open up the extra camp adjacent to the existing Dadaab complex of refugee camps in northern Kenya, which now shelters 440,000 people.
Despite serious overcrowding at Dadaab, the new camp, called "Ifo 2", has been left locked and empty throughout the crisis. The UNHCR's decision to relocate famine refugees to scrubland near Ifo 2 - slated for a future site - and rename the whole area "Ifo extension" has led to confused reports suggesting the new camp was in operation. William Stirling, a UNHCR official, confirmed that the camps had "still not opened" but denied misleading the media.
