Emergency food-aid distribution continued to be hampered in Kenya as a result of the ongoing violence, UN agencies said Friday, according to dpa. Supplies leaving Nairobi were being disrupted by unrest, affecting deliveries to the Rift Valley in the north and Eldoret in the west. According to the Kenyan Red Cross and Kenyan government, there are around 300,000 people now displaced and living in 300 sites. Many were on the move, making it difficult to determine precise numbers and for humanitarian organizations to coordinate relief operations. Violence in Nakuru and Naivasha at the weekend had prevented assistance by the Christian aid group World Vision to 15,000 people in the area. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Molo district, north-west of the capital, was a priority for humanitarian agencies as violence was escalating in the area and 40,000 people had been uprooted. Violence and killings in Cherangani, Nakuru and Naivasha had prompted further displacement, while the situation in the suburbs of Nairobi and in Kisumu in the far west remained volatile. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said they were assisting nearly 10,000 people evicted from tea plantations and flower farms around Tigoni close to Nairobi. The evictions of non-indigenous peoples followed similar operations in Kikuyu and Kabete nearby. People had received threats giving them 72 hours to leave their homes. Sexual violence was still taking place on a broad scale with OCHA claiming more and more cases of rape were being reported. Gender-based violence continued to be exploited as a weapon in the inter-ethnic unrest.
