Escalating violence in southern and central Somalia has forced an estimated 200,000 Somalis to leave their homes so far this year. The majority remain displaced within the country as it gets more dangerous and difficult to flee across the borders. Prompted by a rapidly deteriorating situation and growing displacement in Somalia, UNHCR is seeking additional funds to ease the plight of Somali refugees in neighbouring Kenya, Yemen, Ethiopia and Djibouti and those forcibly displaced inside their country.

UNHCR’s overall budgetary needs in Somalia and its four neighbouring countries in 2010 amount to $424.7 million. So far this year, UNHCR has received 36 per cent of its global comprehensive needs budget. In Somalia and all four neighbouring countries, UNHCR and its partners are struggling to respond fully and effectively to the protection and assistance needs of some 550,000 Somali refugees and 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs).

The situation is particularly dire in Dadaab, Kenya - one of the world's oldest, largest and most congested refugee sites where there are growing fears of more arrivals. The emergency assistance to Somali refugees in Ifo, one of three refugee camps in Dadaab focuses on relieving dramatic overcrowding. The three adjacent camps are already stretched to three times their initial capacity and thousands more people are continuing to arrive each month. During the first four months of this year Kenya received more than 21,000 people.

The new funding is mainly needed to improve services in existing camps, in particular water supply, shelter and health facilities. UNHCR will also use these funds to open two new camps for Somali refugees - one in Yemen and another in Djibouti. Additional funds are also needed for registration and legal assistance, complementary and supplementary feeding, and provision of basic aid items – especially for the hundreds of thousands currently displaced inside Somalia.

Return to May Update