Thursday, July 28, 2011
The refugees, mostly women and children, make the long and perilous journey to the world's largest refugee camp, Dadaab, in north of Kenya.
Established in 1991, the camp can accommodate 90,000 refugees, but nearly 440,000 people are now living there, which by far outnumbers Dadaab's capacity, reports indicate.
It is estimated that up to 1,500 people, who have been forced to leave their homes over Somalia famine, arrive at the camp on a daily basis.
Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) in the world.
Last week, the United Nations declared a famine in two southern areas of Somalia, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on donor countries to immediately come up with $1.6 billion in aid for these two regions on July 20.
The first UN plane carrying 10 tons of food supplies landed in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday after two years.
"This is the first plane in a series of planes that will take off over the next days," Spokesman for UN World Food Program (WFP) Susannah Nicol in Nairobi said .