Somalis face more hardships at Kenya camp-aid agency

NAIROBI, Aug 24 (Reuters) Nearly 140,000 refugees at a camp in northern Kenya are facing increasing hardships due to cuts in foreign funding, even as more war-weary Somalis pour into the settlement, an aid agency said today.

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, and the U S Agency for International Development have reduced financial support to Dadaab camp by 20 per cent and 23 per cent respectively over the last year, CARE International said in a statement.

It said the move would limit the mostly Somali refugees' access to water, shelter, sanitation and education as some 30,000 more people are expected to arrive by the end of 2006.

''These cuts have come at a critical time, with renewed conflict in Somalia between the interim government, warlords and the Islamic courts,'' said CARE official Mohammed Qazilbash.

It will be ''extremely challenging for agencies to meet the basic needs of all those seeking refuge,'' he added.

Many Somalis have abandoned their homeland because of fighting in south Somalia between Islamist militia and warlords.

So far this year, at least 18,000 Somalis have reached Dadaab, which lies about 100 km south of the border and dates from the 1991 start of an era of anarchy in Somalia.

Reuters LL RS1705