July 3, 2012
Development and Peace is funding the Kambioos WASH (Water Sanitation & Hygiene) project with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) at the border of Somalia in Kenya. Kambioos is one of the refugee camps in the Dadaab refugee complex – the biggest refugee camp in the world. There has been a rash of security incidences over the past few days and we received this update from CRS:
- On June 29th, outside of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s compound in IFO, 2 drivers and 1 contractor were shot and one of the drivers later died because of his wounds. During the same attack, 1 Kenyan National and 4 international staff (among them 2 Canadians) were kidnapped and driven towards the Somali border. Kenyan and Somali forces have located and rescued the 4 aid workers who sustained minor injuries outside of Dobley on the Somali/Kenyan border. The aid workers are being returned to Nairobi for medical evaluations. Read the details on Al Jazeera.
- On July 1st, shots were fired and grenades thrown into the Catholic Central Cathedral and African Inland Church in Garissa (approximately 2 hours from the Dadaab camps). 17 individuals are confirmed dead with over 40 wounded. This story is still unfolding, but at this time the perpetrators have not yet been captured. Read the details on Al Jazeera.
- All CRS staff members are safe, but movements to the camps were suspended on Friday the 29th.