Kenya: South Sudanese Refugees Flee Camp Due to Food Shortages

Over 6,000 South Sudanese refugees have left the Kakuma camp in Kenya since the beginning of the year due to cuts in international aid funding and the resulting food shortages. The camp, the second largest in Kenya, hosts approximately 300,000 people from South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, and Burundi.

Humanitarian organizations are struggling to meet the needs of the refugees, leading to protests and unrest last month. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that approximately 3,600 people, mostly women and children, left the camp between July and August.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to reduce food rations, categorizing refugees and limiting assistance to those most in need. The WFP warned that if resources are not mobilized urgently, more refugees will be forced to return to their home country.

An official from the refugee services (DRS) in Kakuma reported that refugees from South Sudan were placed in a category that does not receive assistance, leaving them with nothing to eat.