from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya Bureau
NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – CLASHES between refugees and police over cuts to food rations add a new dimension to the fallout between civilians and law enforcers in Kenya.
The food cuts escalate the worsening humanitarian crisis in Kenya’s refugee camps, where growing starvation is now compounded by violence following clashes between protesters and the police.
For over a year now, the East African country has suffered riots, over a receding economy, with heavy-handedness by security forces leaving around 400 people dead.
On Wednesday, things took a worse turn after clashes between protesting refugees and police in Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Settlement, over these cuts to food rations, leaving an unconfirmed number of refugees dead and multiple suffering injuries as well as a World Food Programme (WFP) facility set alight.
Drastic reductions in international support, mainly through significant cuts to United States humanitarian aid, is causing severe food shortages and man-made starvation, leading to the violence.
“Desperate cries for food and survival must not be met with silence or with force,” the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) appealed.
It said it was profoundly concerned by the dire conditions in the refugee camps.
Physicians for Human Rights discloses that from 2020– 2025, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) committed approximately $2,5 billion in foreign assistance to Kenya (approximately $470 million per year) with 80 percent allocated for health-related programmes.
Thus, the slashing of humanitarian aid by the government of President Donald Trump of America has left hundreds of thousands of refugees in Kenya severely malnourished and devastated by man-made starvation.
In recent weeks, reports have emerged of children and their families in Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps and Kalobeyei wasting away, going days without food following the aid cuts.
Despite unprecedented cuts to food rations in June, the World Food Programme’s urgent appeal for funding to restore full rations and cash assistance went unanswered.
This week, the United Nations agency was forced to roll out a new three-month food rationing plan that provides only minimal support to those deemed the most vulnerable, leaving thousands of refugees without any food assistance.
Agencies report that prolonged displacement in inhumane conditions, coupled with drastic aid cuts, has forced refugees into a daily struggle for survival, where hunger and fear are constant.
USCRI laments that this crisis is not accidental but reflects the consequences of reduced funding by major donors, including the US government, whose leadership has long been vital in responding to humanitarian emergencies.
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) reports that the deteriorating socio-economic conditions, driven by funding cuts, are contributing to rising crime, tensions between host and refugee communities, and renewed protests over limited access to essential services.
It reveals in all camps, malnutrition is rising, particularly among children, pregnant/lactating women, and the chronically ill due to severe reductions of food rations.
Gender based violence, (GBV) remains widespread, particularly intimate partner violence and early/forced marriage, driven by economic stress, harmful social norms, and overcrowded living conditions.
ECHO reports that in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, water shortages and service disruptions have triggered internal relocations, affecting vulnerable groups.
“Access to protection, shelter, and education remains limited, with girls facing risks of early marriage and boys pressured into informal work,” the agency stated.
Lay‑offs by aid agencies have reportedly left about 500 refugees in Dadaab without wages, forcing families to skip meals and slide deeper into debt.
A dengue fever outbreak has been reported in Ifo and Dagahaley camps in Dadaab, due to poor waste management and high temperatures, compounded by limited access to health services.
Homt over 836 000 refugees, Kenya is the fifth largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, according to the local Department of Refugee Services.
– CAJ News