The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced it is to open another new camp in Ethiopia to deal with Somalis still fleeing from conflict and insecurity. A spokesperson for the UNHCR in Geneva, Andrej Mahecic, said that with people still arriving at Dollo Ado, “the Ethiopian Government has authorized the opening of a sixth site and land for this has been designated between the town of Kole and Kobe camp, some 54 kilometers north of Dollo Ado town.” Two weeks ago, an all-weather airstrip was opened at Dollo Ado, significantly upgrading access for relief. Adverse weather conditions had often rendered the old airstrip unusable. Dollo Ado is the second largest refugee complex in the world after Dadaab in Kenya; and last week, according to UNHCR, the numbers there passed the 170,000 mark, with new arrivals citing fear of harassment and forced recruitment by armed groups which still control significant rural areas of Somalia. The problems have been exacerbated by last year’s drought and famine which uprooted an additional half million people. Overall, the number of Somali refugees in neighboring countries has reached more than a million. Ethiopia currently hosts some 214,000 displaced Somalis in all, in the five camps at Dollo Ado as well as other camps further north near Jijiga.
**************
* Originally published on A Week in the Horn – Oct. 25, 2012 issue, titled “UN to open a new camp in Ethiopia to host refugees”. Items from A Week in the Horn are re-published here with a permission to do so.
Check the drop down menu for posts on related topics.
Hello there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could locate a captcha plugin for my
comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having
problems finding one? Thanks a lot!