VETAID prepares to assist displaced Kenyans
11 February 2008

This week, VETAID is conducting an assessment of the challenges faced by internally displaced people (IDPs) who have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the recent violence in Kenya.

Following the Kenyan presidential elections in December 2007, there has been continuing unrest across the country, particularly in the Western, Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces of western Kenya and the capital Nairobi.

It is estimated that nearly 1,000 people have died as a result of the violence and 300,000 are living in makeshift camps across the country as they have left their homes in fear of being caught up in the violence.

The seven-day mission is being carried out in partnership with Vétérinaires sans Frontières-Belgium. The team is covering some of the worst-affected areas, including Central Province, Rift Valley Province and Western Kenya.

The team is assessing issues such as the number of animals that have been abandoned or stolen; options for caring for livestock that IDPs have managed to keep with them; the level of work continuing on people’s farming land; and the impact that this will have upon production in the coming season.

VETAID’s Projects Co-ordinator, Jenny Schwarz explains: “As people are forced to flee their homes, they often have to leave behind their animals and are unable to return to tend to their land.”

“This is the time of year where farmers in Kenya need to prepare their land and plant crops. Their absence from their farms at this critical time could create a national food crisis in the coming months.”

The team’s findings will enable VETAID and our partners to begin an immediate response to the crisis, followed by longer term activities to get rural IDPs working back in agriculture again.

ENDS

For more information or to arrange an interview with VETAID staff in Kenya, please contact Gail Wilson on 0131 445 6231.

Notes for editors:

• The VETAID/VSF-Belgium assessment of conditions in IDP camps across Kenya is taking place from 6 – 13 February 2008. Plans will then be developed for activities to tackle the main problems the team has identified in the camps.
• More information on the team’s findings so far are available from VETAID.
• VETAID is a Scottish-based international development organisation that works in four countries in east and the Horn of Africa with communities who depend on livestock for their survival. More information about VETAID can be found on .
• VETAID is a member of Vétérinaires sans Frontières (VSF) Europa. For more information, consult the website http://www.vsfe.org/.