Urgent aid is needed for an overcrowded Kenyan refugee camp, top UN official says.

Urgent aid is needed for an overcrowded Kenyan refugee camp, top UN official says.

The UN describes one of the world's largest refugee complexes as "the most difficult camp situation in the world."

More than 25.000 Somalis are living in the overcrowded refugee complex Dadaab in Eastern Kenya. They have fled fighting in their own country.

"We are facing one of the most dramatic refugee crises of the recent past in Dadaab," UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said during a visit to the camp Tuesday.

Located some 90 kilometres from the border with Somalia, the three sprawling tented cities at Dadaab were built to house 90,000 people but today are home to more than three times that number. More than 6.000 new refugees are arriving every month.

As a result, there is not enough water, sanitation, health, nutrition or shelter.

The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, says it has no choice but to expand the camp. and will provide an additional $20 million this year for urgent improvements. 

While developing a new camp south of Dadaab, some of the refugees will be relocated to Kakuma, a camp near Kenya's north-west border with Sudan.

Photo: Grace Blue