Due to the ongoing drought and increased insecurity in Somalia, the Dadaab refugee camps are experiencing an emergency influx of new arrivals. UNHCR estimates that approximately 2,100 people are reaching Dadaab every week. They are in dire need of food assistance, shelter, education, WASH and health/nutrition services. 

The projected number of new arrivals by April 2023 is 121,300 individuals. UNHCR estimated that an additional USD 15 million is required to assist the new arrivals between November 2022 and April 2023.

To face the emergency influx, Kenyan authorities approved the reopening of Ifo II camp, previously closed in 2018. Ifo II has a capacity to host 66,000 people, though an important rehabilitation of dilapidated infrastructure is urgently needed. 

On 31 October, DG ECHO, together with UNHCR and WFP, organised a Joint Donor Mission to Dadaab to get a firsthand impression of the current humanitarian situation in the camps. Ambassadors from Germany, France and Japan joined the mission together with donor representatives from Switzerland, UK, Norway, Canada, and the EU Delegation to Kenya.