At least four people sustained gunshot wounds as police clashed with protesters in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, in the country’s north.
Thousands of refugees in the camp, which hosts people fleeing from conflict and drought in neighboring South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi and Congo, protested Monday against food rationing due to funding constraints.
The World Food Program, which is in charge of food distribution at the refugee camp, said last December the food rations to refugee camps were “at 45 percent of the minimum food basket due to resource constraints.”
The WFP has warned for years that it is facing shortfalls in the contributions from governments it relies on for funding, and on Monday it announced that it is closing its office in South Africa due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s cuts in foreign aid.
A refugee from neighboring South Sudan, John Garang, held up a roughly 4 liter pot.
“This is the container they are now using to measure beans and oil and the other one for rice. And this is equivalent for one month for your food. Assume you don’t have another income, it’s only this. Is this enough for you,” he asked.
Kenya is currently in the process of transitioning refugees into integrated settlements as opposed to the previous system of refugee camps, which are donor reliant, and has already gazetted Kakuma and Dadaab as municipalities.
