World must not ignore the suffering in Dadaab

Children refugees fetch water at the Dadaab Refugee Camp. [File, Standard]

Early this week, refugees at the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Garissa County held peaceful demonstrations to protest about reduced food rations.

Dadaab is one of the largest refugee camps in the world and has been getting funding support from USAID since it was set up in 1991 to accommodate Somali nationals escaping war in their own country. By February 2025, Dadaab had 426,822 registered refugees.

In January this year, the Donald Trump administration cut funding for the USAID-supported humanitarian programmes globally by 83 per cent. That has had negative effects on health and education programmes, including the aid given to refugees in Kenya.

In June 2024, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received $37 million from USAID for the Dadaab refugees. Following the cut in US funding, however, conditions were bound to become tough for the refugees who have largely benefited from food rations, healthcare, education and cash transfers.

Already, WFP has been forced to cut down food rations to 40 per cent of daily intake, sparking the protests. Besides cutting down on food rations, other services like health and education within Dagahaly, Hagadera, Ifo and Ifo 2, the four refugee camps that make up Dadaab, have been severely affected. Moreover, the shortage of water in the usually overcrowded spaces poses a serious health risk to the residents.

There is, therefore, urgent need for the world to support the refugees before the situation gets out of hand. It is highly unlikely that Trump will change his mind soon about cutting aid to third-world countries and reinstate the assistance. Leaving the refugees, who call Dadaab home, to their own devices after Trump's lopsided decision would be a similarly irresponsible thing for the world to do.

It is the responsibility of the global community to take care of the most vulnerable. The United Nations should rally the world to support those in Dadaab, one of the largest refugee camps in the world, and other refugees in and outside Kenya. The world will have abdicated its duty if even one refugee succumbs to hunger.