BRUSSEL (SOHA) – The European Union has announced Sh3.9 billion humanitarian aid for refugees in Kenya and Uganda. Christos Stylianides, the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, said Kenya will get Sh1.1 billion and Uganda Sh2.8 billion, since it has the highest number of refugees in Africa. The aid to Kenya is …
Read More »Kenya to highlight skills training to enhance refugees integration
NAIROBI (SOHA) – Kenya will invest in vocational training for refugees to enhance their integration in the host country through employment or entrepreneurship, senior officials said Wednesday during an event to mark the World Refugee Day. Fred Matiang’i, Cabinet Secretary for Interior, said Kenya will reach out to multilateral partners …
Read More »More than 250,000 refugees returned to Somalia, UN says
DADAAB (SOHA) – At least 254,811 Somali refugees from Dadaab camp in Garissa have been voluntarily repatriated since 2013, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has said. The repatriation started after a tripartite agreement between Kenya, the Somalia government and the UNHCR in November 2013. Speaking during Refugee …
Read More »Refugees in Dadaab camps shun calls to voluntarily return
DADAAB (SOHA) – The total closure of three extensive refugee camps in Dadaab may not happen soon as numbers of those returning to their countries of origin voluntary have reduced while others have vowed never to return to their homes. While the number of refugees has tremendously reduced from 466,683 …
Read More »I’m ready to go rebuild my country, Somali refugee says
NAIROBI (SOHA) – Fardowsa Adow Mohamed has not known any other home apart from Hagadera refugee camp since she arrived from Somalia where she was born. She came to Kenya at the age of two due to inter-clan skirmishes in Somalia. As she joins millions of refugees around the globe …
Read More »Somalia: Displaced and desperate in IDP camps
MOGADISHU (SOHA) – Somalia is facing a severe humanitarian crisis triggered by multiple natural disasters and long term political instability which are having a crippling effect on the country’s economy. Recovery efforts have not yet provided state building opportunities due to the fragile institutions in place and the rapidly changing …
Read More »Kakuma camp will host world’s first TEDx in a refugee camp
NAIROBI (SOHA) – The first ever TEDx event in a refugee camp will be held at the Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya on Saturday June 9. Kakuma is home to over 186 000 refugees from 14 countries and at the TEDx event former and current refugees will come together …
Read More »Minneapolis: Former Somali refugee runs for US Congressional seat
MINNEAPOLIS (SOHA) – Two years ago, Ilhan Omar made headlines when she became the first Somali-American elected to a U.S. state legislature. She was chosen to represent Minneapolis, a city in the upper Midwestern state of Minnesota. Now, she is running for a seat in the U.S. Congress. The opening for …
Read More »Migrants continue perilous journeys to Europe, but numbers fall
TUNISIA (SOHA) – Tunisia’s Defense Ministry says at least 46 migrants have died after their boat sank off the country’s southern coast and 67 others were rescued by the coast guard on Sunday. The rescue operation was ongoing, the ministry said in a statement. The migrants were of Tunisian and …
Read More »150 Somali migrants return home after detention in Libya
MOGADISHU (SOHA) – Following several months of confinement in detention centres in Libya, 150 Somali migrants returned voluntarily to their home country today with transportation organized by the United Nations migration agency. “I cannot find the right words to explain the anguish I went through in Libya. It was a difficult …
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