The international aid agency Oxfam said
the international community’s failure to end the war in Somalia is resulting in
a spiral of human suffering and exodus to neighboring countries.
The group said
hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled the violence in Somalia are now
trapped in appallingly overcrowded cramps in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia
itself.
Paul Lomas, Oxfam regional
director in East Africa said the plight of the
refugees is serious and desperate.
“The
United Nations now describes this as the worse situation in almost 20 years.
3.10 million people are now estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance;
1.7 million have been displaced in the last couple of years. And now on top of
the conflict we are facing a situation of drought, probably the worst drought
in about 10 years,” he said.
Oxfam
said in a statement released September 3 that the international response to the
crisis has been inadequate.
“In
order to help humanitarian agencies like Oxfam to be able to improve and
respond to the refugees and displaced people needs, money would be of fantastic
help,” Lomas said.
He
said although Oxfam’s primary concern is to ensure an adequate response to the
humanitarian needs, the ultimate solution to the situation would be an end to
the conflict in Somalia.
“I’m
not a political analyst; I’m a member of a humanitarian agency. And I know that
much is being done to try and address the root causes of the conflict. But
despite all those many efforts, the situation on the ground has not changed. So
while efforts do go on, they must be doubled and redoubled until we see impact
on the ground,” Lomas said.
Oxfam
said in its statement that the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya which was
built to house 8,000 refugees is now housing 280,000.
Lomas
said the Kenyan government has yet to make good on its promise to provide more
land to solve the overcrowding problem.
“The Kenyan government is the prime
responsible government to ensure that adequate space was allocated to the camp
to allow this decongestion to take place,” he said
Lomas said donor governments must also
assist the process by providing funding to compensate land owners whose land
might be used to ease the overcrowding at the Dadaab refugee camp.