Residents of
Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp are protesting after going five days without water,
amid acute food shortages and inadequate healthcare.
Madit Jok,
whose family is at the camp, expressed frustration.
“The people
are protesting in Kakuma due to a shortage of food and water. It has been five
days now without water. There are no good health services,” Jok told The Radio
Community in an interview on Friday.
The protests
have been fueled by the community’s growing sense of desperation as essential
supplies have dwindled.
The
opposition to integration is one of the key reasons why most refugees are
protesting.
The camp
hosts South Sudanese, Somali, Congolese, and Burundian refugees.
South Sudan
became a country in 2011 after a civil war, but conflict resumed in 2013,
causing armed violence, economic decline, disease, and hunger.
The conflict forced
millions to flee, with many seeking refuge in neighboring countries like Sudan,
Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kenya's
Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei settlement host over 148,000 South Sudanese refugees,
one of the largest refugee populations globally.
The UNHCR is
striving to offer refugees in Kakuma opportunities for success, but this effort
is insufficient.