Eight people were killed in Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya at the weekend after a clash between refugees from South Sudan and the Great Lakes region, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency said Monday.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) spokesman in Kenya, Emmanuel Nyabera, said the deadly fighting began when a South Sudanese motorcycle taxi driver knocked down a child from the Great Lakes region.
"One of the communities thought it was intentional. Our feeling was that it was just an accident," Nyabera told South Sudan in Focus.
"By this morning, eight refugees have lost their lives," he said.
The violence is the latest at the sprawling refugee camp, he said.
Nyabera said more violence was triggered last week between the two main ethnic groups, the Dinka and the Nuer, after the alleged rape in the camp of a 10-year-old girl. At least one person was killed in those clashes, he said.
Kakuma has taken in some 38,000 new refugees since South Sudan erupted in violence last December, Nyabera said. The UNHCR says on its website that the vast majority of people streaming into the camp are from South Sudan.
The UNHCR says Kakuma is overcrowded and "additional land is urgently needed. UNHCR's top priorities in the camp are to respond to protection needs, and to provide adequate infrastructure and basic services for a growing population."
