Refugees say police have been harassing them as they sought information about the perpetrators of the attacks
NAIROBI (AlertNet) – Aid distributions have been temporarily suspended at Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex, near the border with Somalia, following a series of bomb attacks.
Tensions are high at the world’s largest refugee camp, where refugees have accused the police of harassment.
On Tuesday, a suspected remote-controlled bomb exploded in Ifo camp, part of Dadaab camp, damaging a police vehicle, the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a statement on Wednesday.
On Monday, a similar device killed one police officer and seriously wounded two others in the camp.
“There’s no food, no water, even no people moving around apart from police with machine guns checking people,” Halima Yusuf Duale, a refugee in Ifo camp, told AlertNet.
Monday’s explosion went off close to a food distribution point as rations were being given out, World Food Programme regional spokeswoman Challiss McDonough told AlertNet. As a result, distributions have been suspended.
“It was a collective decision by all of the organisations working in the camp that a temporary suspension needed to be made for the security of beneficiaries,” McDonough said.
“People are afraid. Nobody wants to lose his life or even get hurt,” said Haron Komen, a government officer with the Department of Refugee Affairs in Dadaab.
DOOR-TO-DOOR SEARCHES
Refugees said the police have been harassing them as they sought information about the perpetrators of the attacks.
“The police imposed a curfew on us. They are investigating, door-to-door, the houses of the new arrivals,” said Yusuf Ali Warsame, a refugee in Ifo camp.
Komen denied there was a police curfew but said he had received complaints from refugees of police beatings, which are under investigation.
“Refugees have run away from the insecurity of Ifo camp after police whipped them. They have moved here,” Faduma Isaq, a refugee in Hagadera camp, told AlertNet by phone.
The Dadaab complex is made up of three smaller camps, Hagadera, Ifo and Dagahaley. It hosts almost half a million refugees, mostly Somalis fleeing war and famine over the border.
“SOMEBODY SAW”
Dadaab has witnessed a series of attacks in recent months, leading humanitarian agencies to evacuate staff. Medecins Sans Frontieres-Spain pulled out of the camp following the kidnapping of two of its staff from the camp in October.
There have been four attacks on the police since October, with three officers killed, according to UNHCR.
Armed police have escorted aid convoys and humanitarian staff moving between the three camps. Their numbers have been beefed up following the attacks.
Komen called on the refugees to cooperate with the police in finding the bombers.
“We want them to be proactive, to assist us to identify these people,” he said, adding that it would have taken some time on Tuesday for the bomber to dig a hole by a bus stop, bury the bomb and hide nearby to detonate it.
“There was no way that could happen without anybody’s knowledge. Somebody saw and tried to keep quiet,” he said.
“There are also concerns that these refugees are not giving us information.”
In November, Human Rights Watch said the Kenyan police and military should stop mass arbitrary detentions of suspected rebel sympathisers in towns near the Somali border.
Kenya has been plagued by a wave of low-level strikes since sending troops across the border to crush Somali militants two months ago.
UNHCR said deteriorating security has crippled the ability of aid agencies to deliver anything other than life-saving assistance – mainly food, water and health services
“We are deeply concerned for the well-being and safety of Somali refugees in Dadaab, most of whom are women, children and the elderly,” Antonio Guterres, the U.N.’s High Commissioner for refugees, said in Wednesday’s statement.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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