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Kenya: 250,000 Could Be Homeless, Says UN
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The East African Standard (Nairobi)
7 January 2008
Posted to the web 7 January 2008
Brian Adero
Nairobi
More than 250,000 Kenyans could be displaced in the next three months due to post-election violence, a UN agency has said.
Currently, between 100,000 and 180,000 people have been displaced, according to Government and Kenya Red Cross statistics.
Mr Peter Smerdon, a representative of the World Food Programme (WFP), said the number of internally displaced in the Rift Valley, Nyanza, Western and parts of Coast provinces was bound to rise.
Smerdon said more than 100,000 people had been displaced in Rift Valley alone, and called for urgent humanitarian assistance as well as volunteers to assist in food distribution.
Twenty trucks with 670 tonnes of food, enough to feed at least 70,000 people for the next two weeks, left the port of Mombasa on Sunday.
"The first convoy of food from the WFP left Mombasa yesterday (Sunday) and more food assistance arrived in Eldoret," said Smerdon.
So far, the Kenya Red Cross has distributed 124 tonnes of food to 25,951 people in Eldoret.
"We are facing a major challenge in distributing food in the Rift Valley. The displaced population is mobile with people using the relative calm to move to safer areas," he added.
He explained that trucks were being escorted by police because transporters were citing insecurity.
"So far, the Mombasa-Nairobi road is passable. The problem is only near Burnt Forest, Mau Summit and parts of the North Rift," Smerdon said.
Eleven more trucks carrying grains, corn-Soya blend and vegetable oil were destined for Eldoret, with some going to Nairobi.
"The WFP has agreed with the Kenya Red Cross on a two-week ration of cereals, pulse, oil, high energy biscuits and wheat Soya-milk, which is similar to Corn-Soya blend, where available," said Smerdon.
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He said that the trucks bound for Nairobi would provide stocks that the World Food Programme could draw on as soon as a plan to provide food assistance to the hungry in Nairobi's slums was agreed upon by the Kenya Red Cross, church-based organisations, other partners and the authorities.
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