The United Nations called on Friday for donations of an additional 45,000 tents to shelter Somalis who have taken refuge in Kenya to escape famine and conflict in their home country, dpa reported. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva said more than 70,000 Somali refugees have arrived at Kenya's Dadaab refugee camps during June and July, swelling the population there to 440,000. The UN refugee agency brought new food aid to Somalia with three humanitarian flights that landed at Mogadishu airport on Thursday, bringing a 32-ton consignment of shelter and other aid items. Aid supplies were brought into the country also by sea and land. The UN estimated 3.7 million people, nearly half the Somali population, have been affected by drought-induced famine in addition to insecurity. The famine has now affected 12.4 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
