UNHCR reduces Kenya aid operation after MSF abductions

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14 October 2011 Last updated at 05:25 ET

UNHCR reduces Kenya aid operation after MSF abductions

The aid operation near the Kenya-Somalia border has been scaled back after the abduction of two women aid workers, a UN spokesman told the BBC.

All non-life-saving activities have been suspended, but the distribution of water, food and medical services is continuing, said Emmanuel Nyabera.

Nearly half a million people have fled drought and conflict in Somalia and are living in the Dadaab refugee camps.

Kenyan police say they believe the Spanish MSF workers are in Somalia.

Mr Nyabera, from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), said the suspension would last for a few days while security was increased in the area.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15304384

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Re: UNHCR reduces Kenya aid operation after MSF abductions

Senior UN official voices indignation as aid workers are abducted in Kenya


UNHCR chief Ant?nio Guterres (centre) during a recent visit to Ifo II camp extension at Dadaab, Kenya


13 October 2011 ?

The head of the United Nations refugee agency today voiced shock and indignation at the violent abduction from the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya of two female aid workers and the shooting of their driver.

?These MSF [M?decins Sans Fronti?res] colleagues were working to rescue lives,? said Ant?nio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. ?It is wholly unacceptable that they should be made targets for kidnap. I appeal to those responsible to facilitate their immediate and safe return.?

The Dadaab refugee complex is the world?s largest refugee camp and currently hosts 463,739 refugees, most of them Somali. The camp?s population has swollen this year with the arrival of more than 190,000 refugees fleeing famine and conflict in Somalia.

The two MSF staff members were abducted from the Ifo extension area of the camps at around 1:20 p.m. local time. Their driver was shot and is receiving medical treatment in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Media reports quoted Kenyan police as saying that the hostage-takers are suspected to be members of the Somali militant group known as Al Shabaab.

Kenya sealed the border with Somalia after the abduction and mobilized the military and the police to search for the hostages, according to the press reports.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.as...0&Cr=kenya&Cr1=

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Re: UNHCR reduces Kenya aid operation after MSF abductions

Source: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/Insid...00045449&cid=4

Refugees abandoned to their fate as NGOs shut down operations
Updated 7 hr(s) 48 min(s) ago
By Patrick Mathangani in Dadaab

The operation against Al-Shabaab is taking a heavy toll on innocent people whose lives have been disrupted by the on-going assault on terrorist hideouts.

Thousands of refugees fleeing the combat in Somali villages are streaming into Dadaab, Kenya, to begin a new life in squalid conditions.

Two weeks ago, the hospital managed by Medicines Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) was bustling with activity as medical personnel attended to patients at Dadaab?s Ifo Three camp.

But the hospital has since been closed, leaving thousands of refugees without medical care.

It was shut soon after Al-Shabaab militants abducted two Spanish aid workers...