By KEVIN J. KELLEY
More than 18,000 refugees from South Sudan have been registered at Kakuma Camp as of Thursday, pushing its total population to just 3,000 shy of 150,000 limit set by the Kenya government.
The United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday it is working with Kenya's Department of Refugee Affairs in an effort to establish a new camp in Nakururum area.
Local communities have identified two possible sites, both about 80 kilometres from Kakuma on the road to Lokichoggio, the UN agency said.
“However, this is not a done deal yet,” a February 19 UN report cautioned, noting that additional elders in the area “need to be consulted to have a unanimous decision.”
Kenya is hosting fewer refugees from the fighting in South Sudan than are some neighbouring countries. Close to half of the 167,000 South Sudanese moving across borders have arrived in Uganda. Ethiopia is hosting 42,000 South Sudan refugees and Sudan has received 27,000.
An estimated 800,000 persons have been internally displaced in South Sudan since conflict erupted there two months ago.
Of the 18,000-plus South Sudanese refugees now in Kenya, 2600 are unaccompanied children, the UN says.
Fighting that broke out in recent days in Malakal in South Sudan's Upper Nile State must stop, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday, citing “catastrophic consequences for civilian populations.”