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Four shot by police in Kenyan refugee camp food protests

AT LEAST four people sustained gunshot wounds as police clashed with protesters in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, in the country’s north.

Thousands of refugees in the camp, which hosts people fleeing from conflict and drought in neighbouring South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi and Congo, protested on Monday against food rationing due to funding constraints.

The World Food Programme (WFP), which is in charge of food distribution at the refugee camp, said last December the food rations to refugee camps were “at 45 per cent of the minimum food basket due to resource constraints.”

The WFP has warned for years that it is facing shortfalls in the contributions from governments it relies on for funding, and on Monday it announced that it is closing its office in South Africa due to US President Donald Trump’s cuts in foreign aid.

A refugee from neighbouring South Sudan, John Garang, held up a 1 gallon pot.

“This is the container they are now using to measure beans and oil and the other one for rice. And this is equivalent for one month for your food. Assume you don’t have another income, it’s only this. Is this enough for you?” he asked.

Kenya is currently in the process of transitioning refugees into integrated settlements as opposed to the previous system of refugee camps, which are donor reliant.

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