About 250,000 Kenyans displaced by post-election violence: UN
Updated: 2008-01-05 20:14
The experts in the news release cited the tragic loss of life, the massive displacement, especially in the Rift Valley, which threatens enjoyment of the right to food, health, housing and education, and reports of gang rapes and the attendant likelihood of HIV infection.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) said it will shortly provide food through the Kenya Red Cross for 100,000 people displaced in the Northern Rift Valley.
The UN agency said that virtually all movement of food for both western Kenya and the entire region, including Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was frozen for days due to the insecurity.
Some 200 trucks were loaded with WFP food in the Kenyan port of Mombasa from a ship that arrived over Christmas carrying 30,000 metric tons - enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month - for Uganda, southern Sudan, Somalia and the eastern DRC.
The food for Somalia will be sent by sea, but the rest has to go by land, the WFP said.
Some trucks left Mombasa but then were stranded due to insecurity on main roads and checkpoints set up by vigilantes in western Kenya.
Kenyan security forces recently escorted 20 WFP trucks carrying food for north-western Kenya, southern Sudan, Uganda and the DRC, but the insecurity and roadblocks are still hampering humanitarian access.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is trying to establish so- called "safe spaces" for displaced mothers and children, provide water and sanitation to over 100,000 people, and distribute family kits to supply up to 100,000 people with blankets, plastic sheeting, cooking sets, soap and jerry cans.
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