Nairobi, Kenya

Saturday, August 30, 2025

More than 6,000 South Sudanese have left one of Kenya’s largest refugee camps since the beginning of the year, where cuts in international aid are exacerbating food shortages, the United Nations said on Thursday, August 28.

The Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya is the second largest in the country and is home to some 300,000 people from South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, and Burundi.

Humanitarian organizations are struggling, and violent protests took place last month due to a reduction in food rations caused by cuts in aid from the United States and other donors.

South Sudan, a country of extreme poverty, has been plagued by instability for years and is on the brink of another civil war, prompting refugees to cross the border.

“Since January, approximately 6,200 South Sudanese refugees have left Kakuma and Kalobeyei” (an extension of Kakuma), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement sent to AFP.

Between July and August 22, some 3,600 people, mostly women and children, left the sprawling camp, “representing more than half of all departures this year,” according to UNHCR.

“The actual figures are probably higher, as many movements take place through informal crossings,” said the same source, which also recorded “some 4,800 new arrivals” since January.

The UNHCR stressed that although these movements suggest a “developing trend,” the “departures cannot be attributed to a single factor.”

Nevertheless, the organization points out that the trend accelerated in July, when the World Food Programme (WFP) began reducing food rations, classifying refugees into four categories and limiting assistance to the two most vulnerable categories.

“Some refugees have expressed concerns about the categorization of food aid,” as well as about the recent unrest, according to UNHCR.

“What we are seeing is a direct result of insufficient global aid,” the WFP said in a statement published on X on Thursday.

“Unless resources are urgently mobilized, more refugees will face impossible choices: either starve in camps or return to fragile situations at home,” the WFP added.

An official from the Department of Refugee Services (DRS) in Kakuma, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said that many refugees were returning to South Sudan and that the current movements were “unusual.”

“The actual figures are probably higher, as many movements take place through informal crossings,” said the same source, which also recorded “some 4,800 new arrivals” since January.

The UNHCR stressed that although these movements suggest a “developing trend,” the “departures cannot be attributed to a single factor.”

Nevertheless, the organization points out that the trend accelerated in July, when the World Food Programme (WFP) began reducing food rations, classifying refugees into four categories and limiting assistance to the two most vulnerable categories.

“Some refugees have expressed concerns about the categorization of food aid,” as well as about the recent unrest, according to UNHCR.

“What we are seeing is a direct result of insufficient global aid,” the WFP said in a statement published on X on Thursday.

“Unless resources are urgently mobilized, more refugees will face impossible choices: either starve in camps or return to fragile situations at home,” the WFP added.

An official from the Department of Refugee Services (DRS) in Kakuma, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said that many refugees were returning to South Sudan and that the current movements were “unusual.”

“The actual figures are probably higher, as many movements take place through informal crossings,” said the same source, which also recorded “some 4,800 new arrivals” since January.

The UNHCR stressed that although these movements suggest a “developing trend,” the “departures cannot be attributed to a single factor.”

Nevertheless, the organization points out that the trend accelerated in July, when the World Food Programme (WFP) began reducing food rations, classifying refugees into four categories and limiting assistance to the two most vulnerable categories.

“Some refugees have expressed concerns about the categorization of food aid,” as well as about the recent unrest, according to UNHCR.

“What we are seeing is a direct result of insufficient global aid,” the WFP said in a statement published on X on Thursday.

“Unless resources are urgently mobilized, more refugees will face impossible choices: either starve in camps or return to fragile situations at home,” the WFP added.

An official from the Department of Refugee Services (DRS) in Kakuma, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said that many refugees were returning to South Sudan and that the current movements were “unusual.”

“This was orchestrated by the categorization” of refugees, he said, noting that many of the South Sudanese in Kakuma belonged to categories that did not receive aid. “They have nothing to eat,” he said.

Humaniterre