DPA/Nairobi
A severe drought in the eastern Horn of Africa is leading to a “grave” refugee situation and is unlikely to improve before next year, a humanitarian organisation warned yesterday.Care International said more than 1,000 refugees were arriving daily at the Daadab settlements in northern Kenya.“The situation in Daadab is grave,” said Stephen Gwynne-Vaughan, Care’s country director in Kenya, according to a statement.“Thousands of Somalis are walking for weeks to reach the camp, many of them arriving acutely malnourished, dehydrated, with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” Gwynne-Vaughan added.Almost 367,000 refugees have sought a safe haven in Daadab, making it the world’s largest refugee settlement, according to Care International.The aid organisation called for donations. “Refugees need urgent support. They need food and water,” Gwynne-Vaughan said, adding that Kenyans affected by the drought were also in need of emergency assistance.Without additional funding, Gwynne-Vaughan said the food their organization was distributing from the World Food Programme, “will run dry by September.”More than 10mn people could go hungry as a result of the worst drought in 60 years to hit the Horn of Africa, the UN has warned.The worst-affected countries are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda as well as Kenya, which has declared the drought a national disaster.