U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1999 - Kenya

Kenya hosted approximately 190,000 refugees at the end of 1998: some 140,000 from Somalia, about 45,000 from Sudan, 5,000 from Ethiopia, and 2,000 from other countries. Kenya also hosted some 7,000 Rwandans who were not classified as refugees but who lived in a refugeelike situation.

About 8,000 Kenyans were refugees in Ethiopia. An estimated 200,000 Kenyans were internally displaced, although sources varied widely.

The number of refugees in Kenya declined in 1998 for the sixth consecutive year, from a peak of 400,000 or more in 1992. Up to 150,000 Somalis, some 70,000 Ethiopians, and smaller numbers of Sudanese and other refugees in Kenya have repatriated or resettled in third countries since 1992. Only six refugee camps remained open in Kenya at the end of 1998, compared to 16 camps several years earlier.

Refugees from Somalia

Most Somali refugees fled to Kenya during 1991-92 to escape civil war and famine in their own country. More than half have gradually returned to Somalia, but continued instability there has prevented the remaining Somali refugees from going home.

Somali refugees lived in three areas of Kenya during 1998. About 100,000 occupied three camps near the town of Dadaab in the country's remote eastern zone near the Somalia border. Some 15,000 lived in Kakuma camp in western Kenya. Another 25,000 were believed to reside in Kenya's urban areas despite Kenyan government restrictions. Government officials asserted that up to 100,000 Somalis lived in urban areas.

During 1998, Kenyan officials closed the last refugee camp located on Kenya's coast, near the port city of Mombassa. The approximately 2,000 Somali refugees living in the coastal camp chose either to repatriate or to relocate to camps in eastern Kenya. Kenyan officials have systematically closed camps along the coast in recent years to consolidate assistance to the declining refugee population and to remove refugees from areas frequented by international tourists.

Kenyan officials have insisted for years that all refugees must live in designated camps to qualify for assistance. Kenyan authorities classified Somalis living outside of camps as illegal aliens. Police have conducted virtually annual crackdowns to apprehend refugees and other foreigners in urban areas.

Two major police "sweeps" occurred during 1998 – in January, and in August immediately following a terrorist bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. Authorities instructed refugees registered by UNHCR to return to refugee camps, and instructed undocumented asylum seekers to report to national immigration officials.

Heavy rains in late 1997 and early 1998 seriously disrupted food shipments to the 100,000 Somali refugees living in eastern Kenya. Flooding left highways to the camps impassable for more than two months and forced WFP to mount an expensive airlift of food. Refugees received half-rations for six weeks.

The rains damaged homes in the camps, making several thousand refugees temporarily homeless. That thousands of their livestock perished in the floods further damaged the refugees' ability to support themselves.

Budget cuts of 20 percent forced UNHCR/Kenya to curtail services. The agency canceled the planned construction of new school structures, slowed repair of refugees' fragile houses, and reduced its staff.

Protecting the Somali refugee population remained difficult in 1998. Camps in eastern Kenya, near Dadaab, have been vulnerable to banditry, killings, and rapes since the camps opened in 1992. Refugee women collecting firewood outside the camps in eastern Kenya reportedly suffered an increased incidence of rape.

"The security situation in Dadaab and Kakuma (in western Kenya) is a source of growing concern for UNHCR," the agency reported in July. Attacks on aid vehicles driving between the camps also increased during the year.

Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi characterized the refugee population as a security threat because of their guns and urged UNHCR to work more aggressively to stimulate their return to Somalia. In June, the government ordered all refugees to relinquish their weapons.

UNHCR continued to supply eastern Kenyan police with vehicles, radios, offices, and barracks to improve security around refugee camps. UNHCR urged government officials to establish a "mobile court" near Dadaab to expedite prosecution of crimes inflicted on refugees.

UNHCR received $1.5 million from the U.S. government in July to provide refugee women with safer alternatives for collecting firewood. The agency also sought funding to improve 100 miles of special live thorn fencing to boost security around refugee camps.

Some 700 Somali refugees repatriated with UNHCR assistance. Most left Kenya aboard UNHCR-chartered planes bound for northern Somalia. An additional 700 refugees repatriated spontaneously, without assistance.

Authorities reported no significant influx of new refugees during the year. Some 3,000 Somalis arrived in Kenya in January after floods uprooted them from southern Somalia. UNHCR and Kenyan authorities agreed that the new arrivals were not fleeing persecution and did not qualify for refugee status.

Refugees from Sudan

The number of Sudanese refugees has ranged from 20,000 to 40,000 in recent years, depending on the course of Sudan's civil war. The number increased to about 45,000 during 1998.

UNHCR refrained from conducting an official census recount of the Sudanese refugee population during 1998 – previous census efforts encountered violent resistance from many refugees. UNHCR registered 14,000 new arrivals during the year, but whether the new registrations were new arrivals or refugees who had lived in Kenya for many years was often unclear.

Most lived in a series of three camps at Kakuma in northwest Kenya. Ethnic tensions and occasional eruptions of violence among the refugees in previous years prompted UNHCR to group the refugees according to their ethnic affiliation. UNHCR attempted to improve security by providing equipment to Kenyan police who patrol near the camps.

Despite precautions, bandits ambushed a group of UNHCR staff traveling to Kakuma camp during the year. Four non-UNHCR staff died in the attack.

Aid workers have regularly charged that Sudanese rebel groups impose "taxes" on Sudanese in Kakuma camp and that the rebels conscript young male refugees into rebel ranks. UNHCR said it "closely monitored" the conscription problem in 1998 and received no reports that conscription occurred. The agency credited its public awareness campaign with strengthening the refugees' ability to resist conscription efforts.

Media accounts during the past 10 years have highlighted the plight of 5,000 unaccompanied minor boys who fled from Sudan to Ethiopia, and then fled to Kenya. By 1998, about half of the "boys" had surpassed age 18 and were no longer "minors." Many of the boys and young men reported that they have maintained occasional contact with their families inside Sudan.

Ethiopian and Other Refugees

Some 80,000 Ethiopian refugees fled to Kenya during 1991-92 to escape ethnic conflict in their own country. Smaller numbers have arrived in Kenya since that time.

The majority of Ethiopian refugees in Kenya returned to Ethiopia in the mid-1990s. A few remained in Kenya, their repatriation slowed by bureaucratic delays. In 1998, some 3,000 Ethiopian refugees repatriated by air with UNHCR assistance. The nearly 5,000 refugees who remained in Kenya were nearly evenly divided between Kakuma camp and the Dadaab area camps, with smaller numbers in urban areas.

About 1,000 refugees from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo Kinshasa resided in Kakuma camp during the year. UNHCR and Kenyan authorities established a screening appeals process in July to determine the refugee status of Rwandan asylum seekers. Some 6,000 Rwandans living on their own in Kenya participated in the process, which remained incomplete at year's end.

Internally Displaced Kenyans

Political and ethnic violence has caused families to flee their homes in three regions of Kenya in recent years.

In western Kenya, politically inspired violence during 1991-92 uprooted about 300,000 people and left some 1,500 dead. Sporadic violence has continued in western Kenya since then, including in 1998.

In the aftermath of national elections in December 1997, clashes in western Kenya killed at least 100 people and forced several thousand people from their homes in early 1998. The Kenyan Red Cross reported 15,000 newly displaced people. Mobs burned homes. Kenyan police failed to respond to the violence for several days, observers stated.

Displaced families, joining families uprooted in previous years, sought shelter in church compounds, schools, and market areas. Local church leaders and human rights investigators charged that officials in Kenya's ruling political party instigated the violence to punish local populations that had opposed the ruling party during elections.

Government leaders engaged in "depopulation of opposition strongholds," the Kenya Human Rights Commission reported. "The more successful the state is in depicting the clashes as ethnicŠthe more its role becomes concealed and obscure."

International human rights organizations reported that attacks in western Kenya increasingly involved rape, murder, and use of modern weapons.

Ethnic clashes also occurred in northern Kenya during the year. Some 150 people reportedly were killed.

A third area of violence and displacement, Kenya's coast, avoided significant new upheaval in 1998. Politically instigated violence in coastal towns in 1997 pushed tens of thousands from their homes – as many as 100,000 people were uprooted, according to some estimates – and many families in the coastal region remained displaced and afraid to reclaim their property in 1998.