South Sudan refugees flee Kenya's Kakuma camp

At least 668 refugees fleeing from Kenya's Kakuma camp due to worsening humanitarian conditions have arrived in Kapoeta East County in South Sudan, authorities have confirmed.

Local authorities in the neighbouring country said some of the returnees arrived on foot, while others in a Probox car. The group started to flee Kakuma two weeks ago.

At the heart of the exodus is a drastic aid reduction after the World Food Programme (WFP) slashed food rations by up to 60 per cent.

The refugees said they survived on the equivalent of just 20 cents a day. Aid officials report rising hunger and malnutrition in the camp, with most people struggling to get a meal a day.

“We could not survive in Kakuma anymore. Our children were sleeping hungry for days. It was better to come back home even if life here is also hard," said Mary Lokujo, a mother of four who arrived in Narus last week.

The aid cuts have had a ripple effect beyond just food insecurity. It has led to the collapse of informal credit market. In Kakuma, shopkeepers often provide food on credit, using a refugee's future aid transfers as collateral. When the value of these transfers dropped, shopkeepers had no choice but to tighten credit limits or stop lending altogether.

“Since the aid is reduced, the credit is also reduced,” explained Abdullahi Omar, a shopkeeper inside Kakuma.

This has left many families with no way to cope with financial shocks, forcing them to sell their assets or eat into their food reserves. The situation is set to worsen as a new plan will see roughly one-third of the refugees receive no food assistance at all. This prospect has already triggered violent protests in the camp, a clear sign of the desperation gripping the community.

“We protested because we were starving. No one listens to us when we are quiet. Hunger pushed us to the streets," said David Akol.

Adding to the tension is Kenya’s Shirika Plan, a government-led initiative to integrate refugees into host communities. Many refugees say they were never adequately briefed or prepared for the policy, fuelling resistance to integration.

A source from Kenya’s Department of Refugee Services (DRS), who requested anonymity, confirmed that categorisation of refugees into groups—Category 1, 2, and 3—has forced many, particularly Sudanese nationals, to leave Kakuma. Under the system, only the most vulnerable receive consistent assistance, while others see drastic cuts.

This has triggered resentment within the camp. Aid workers in Turkana also acknowledge the growing disillusionment.

“Many refugees feel the plan was rushed and poorly communicated,” noted a humanitarian worker in Kakuma who asked not to be named.

Some returnees argue that Kenya’s economic struggles make the plan unrealistic.

“Kenya has many problems of its own. If Kenyans are jobless and struggling, how can they take care of refugees?” said a returnee father from Jonglei State.

For Eastern Equatoria State, the influx of returnees comes at a time of mounting challenges, including prolonged drought, inter-communal conflict, and a battered economy that has driven up food prices. Local leaders warn that the strain on limited resources could spark new tensions between returnees and host communities.

“Our capacity is already stretched. We need urgent international support to help these families reintegrate; otherwise, the situation could destabilise communities," said Paulino Lado, an official with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) in Kapoeta.

In Juba, the government has pledged support, appointing Adut Kiir, the daughter of President Salva Kiir and Presidential Envoy for Special Programs, to oversee reintegration efforts.

“What we are witnessing is a direct result of global funding shortfalls. Unless resources are urgently mobilised, more refugees will be forced into impossible choices: either endure hunger in camps or return to fragile situations back home," said a WFP spokesperson in Kakuma and Nairobi.

The situation in Kapoeta East underscores the direct impact of international aid gaps, host-country policies, and refugee categorisation on vulnerable populations, pushing families into a painful choice between hunger in exile and uncertainty at home.