 |
| Bishop Virgilio Pante |
Refugees living in camps in northern Kenya have been urged to live harmoniously and avoid conflicts and clashes which have led to several deaths in the past few weeks.
Speaking during the World Refugee Day at the Kakuma Refugee camp in Lodwar diocese Northern Kenya on Sunday January 18, 2015, Bishop Virgilio Pante, the chairman of the KCCB Commission for Refugees, Sea farers and Migrants lamented the lack of the reconciliation initiatives within the camps led conflicts among refugees to spill over from their countries into the UNHCR run camps in Kenya.
“We should continue peace building and encouraging the communities to live in harmony even after they have left their countries. When we have refugees from both sides of a conflict within one camp, more effort is needed,” he added.
In the most recent case, 6 people were killed and several houses torched when two factions from Southern Sudan clashed within the camp in Kenya last December. The conflicts had sucked in refugees from Rwanda, Burundi the DRC and Ethiopia when Kenyan security agencies managed to put it off.
In his message for the day, Pope Francis called for joint action by all countries to ensure that more efforts are put at the conflicts sites which are a source of refugees and at the camps where the displaced finally end.
‘Solidarity with migrants and refugees must be accompanied by the courage and creativity necessary to develop at worldwide level, a more just and equitable financial and economic order,” he writes in his message released at the Vatican.
In Kenya, the Catholic Church’s commission for Refugees , sea farers and migrants plans to launch a nationwide programme to take care of the many displaced people from neighboring countries who end up in Kenya as refugees.
“There are also many itinerants, being long distance drivers and Sea farers who need pastoral and social guidance, said Mrs. Margaret Masibo the National Executive Secretary for the commission at the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops.
By David Omwoyo, Director Waumini Communications Ltd. KCCB