By Bosire Boniface in Garissa

Refugees from South Sudan stand outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office at Kakuma refugee camp on January 13, 2014. [Bosire Boniface/Sabahi]

Refugees in Kenya, some of whom have endured food aid cuts for up to four months, are welcoming the resumption of full rations in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps.

The World Food Programme (WFP) anounced mid-November it was halving the bimonthly food rations for refugees in the Kenyan camps as a result of funding constraints.

The United Nations agency was seeking $38 million to ensure the continuation of regular rations, but after failing to raise the amount needed, rations were cut, said WFP spokesperson in Kenya Challiss McDonough.

The distribution of full rations resumed January 1st after donor countries responded to an appeal for funds and raised $45 million in December.

Denmark, the European Union, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund each have contributed funds, and the United States is expected to contribute an additional $20 million in February, McDonough told Sabahi.

When it is operating at full capacity, the WFP distributes food twice monthly to 480,000 refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma camps.

During each distribution, each registered person receives three kilogrammes of wheat flour, three kilogrammes of maize, 250 millilitres of cooking oil, 300 grammes of mung beans and a nutritional porridge.

“Refugees depend on food assistance for their survival and we are relieved that we can now once again meet the full food needs of refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma,” said WFP Acting Country Director for Kenya Thomas Hansson.

“I thank our donors who continue to contribute generously to ensure that refugees in Kenya have access to nutritious food and hope we can all work together to prevent disruptions in the future,” he told Sabahi.

Camp residents welcome aid

Refugees at the camps have welcomed the resumption of full food rations, saying it will ease their burden and help prevent camp residents from resorting to criminal activities in order to survive.

“We were very concerned by the cuts because even at full ration the food is not enough for us,” said Kakuma refugee camp resident Esther Deng, 41, a mother of six from South Sudan.

“I fled from Bor in January 2014 to Kakuma because of war,” she told Sabahi. “We could have died here because of lack of food.”

“My children are between 3 and 15 years. Children in this age range require adequate food for their growth and development,” she said, adding that a feeling of gloom spread throughout the camp when news of the food cuts arrived in November.

“If the food is cut and we have no other alternatives, it will spell doom for us,” she said.

Deng said some families had been forced to scavenge for dying livestock left behind by local herdsmen due to drought, she said.

“Families left the camps and they came across dying goats or sheep that local herdsmen left behind,” she said. “We slaughtered the animals and shared the meat.”

Some families hunted for wild birds and animals while others hung around at local hotels in hopes of obtaining leftover food, she added.

But since food rations were reinstated, some optimism has returned to the camps, she said.

“Had the food rations not continued, things would have been very tough on us,” she said.

Hunger fuels crime

Ifo refugee camp leader Mohammed Abdi Musa, 53, expressed hope that the resumption of food rations would stem an increase in crime recorded at the end of last year.

“There have been reports of robbery and breaking into business stores during the months of November and December,” he told Sabahi. “We are not sure whether it is related to the food cuts, but it is no coincidence that there has been no single incident of such crimes so far this January.”

“The majority of the refugees have no source of earning income,” he said. “They rely [almost exclusively] on food aid to survive. Had the food cuts continued, it would have contributed to insecurity.”

The high price of food in local markets put it out of reach for camp residents, he said.

“During the few months the food ration was cut, children had started exhibiting symptoms of malnourishment,” he said. “Many parents would easily resort to crime and engage even in prostitution in order to feed their children.”

“The full ration is not enough for families to feed themselves but it is far better than reducing it even a little,” he added.

Garissa County Criminal Investigations Department Director Musa Yego confirmed there was an uptick in robberies and burglaries in Dadaab refugee complex during the months food rations were cut.

“Between November and December there were at least five cases of robbery each week in Dadaab, up from one or none each week the previous months,” he told Sabahi. But since food distribution resumed, crime has decreased with only five robbery cases reported by mid-January, he said.

“We have not established whether the uptick was related to the food cuts, but we have heightened police patrols to fight the local criminals,” Yego said.

Hagadera refugee camp resident Fatah Abdi Ahmed, 47, told Sabahi there had been a similar uptick in crime when food rations were reduced in 1992 due to funding shortfalls caused by the influx of Somali refugees fleeing the civil war.

At the time, many refugees resorted to highway robbery and cattle rustling to survive, he said.

“The refugees robbed money from their fellow refugees and also from host communities,” he said. “I was 25 years old then and among some refugees who would waylay livestock herders in the grazing fields and steal animals for a meal.”

The robberies strained relationship between the refugees and the host communities, he said, adding that the criminal activity ended after full rationing was restored.

Ahmed urged international donors to continue funding the food assistance programme uninterrupted as it represents the only source of sustenance for many people in the camps.

Source: SabahiOnline