Around 250,000 people have fled their homes for fear of attack from mobs still furious at the outcome of last Sunday’s re-election of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki.
The Salvation Army’s Chief Secretary, Lieut-Colonel Kenneth Hodder, in Kenya said that it had not been possible to reach hundreds of refugees being sheltered in the Eldoret, Kisumu and Kakamega areas of the country, where the violence has been particularly concentrated.
“Salvation Army officers living in the slum areas of Nairobi are being housed at a safe Salvation Army compound in the city and security at all Army facilities has been increased,” he said.
“We are in close contact with our divisional offices in Eldoret, Kisumu, and Kakamega, where hundreds of refugees are being sheltered and fed. Unfortunately, it is not physically possible at this point to reach those locations.”
Thousands of refugees are sheltering in Eldoret’s Catholic Sacred Heart Cathedral, despite the fatal attack on a church last week in which 30 people were locked in and burned alive by a crowd of angry youths.
Fear of attack has triggered an exodus into neighbouring Uganda, putting a strain on food and fuel supplies there.Officials in the border town of Malaba estimate that 2,000 Kenyans have arrived in the last week to find safety in the town.
The Salvation Army quoted one person as saying, “We have registered 778 people but about 1,000 more are staying with relatives or in hotels around this area.”
Major Eluid Nabiswa is the head of The Salvation Army’s Eastern Division in Uganda, which includes the Kenyan border.
He reported large numbers of refugees in Malaba, Bumbo and other border towns.
