​"Dadaab is the world's largest refugee camp. Situated in northern Kenya near the border of Somalia, its five camps are a fragile home to roughly half a million people. By definition, a refugee camp is temporary, but life does not stop here. Dadaab is already home for three generations of refugees."

 

by Dadaab Stories

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Dadaab hosts people that have fled various conflicts in the larger Eastern Africa region. Most have come as a consequence of the civil war in southern Somalia. The Dadaab camps (Ifo, Dagahaley, Hagadera) were constructed in 1991.

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​The camps were originally designed to house 90,000 people, but with the ongoing crisis in Somalia, official estimates suggest that around 6,000 new refugees arrive each month. Currently, Dadaab hosts 500.000 people. Those population figures ranked Dadaab as the largest refugee camp in the world.​

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​Refugees aren't allowed to leave the camps unless they receive special movement passes. If caught without a pass, they risk arrest, detention or expulsion. Special buses can be taken between each of the complex's three camps, which are separated one from the other by a few kilometres of dust and dry heat​.

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In 2011, the East Africa drought caused a dramatic surge in the camps' population. In July 2011, it was reported that more than 1000 people per day were arriving in dire need of assistance. Then, military operations in the conflict zones of southern Somalia and a scaling up of relief operations had by early December 2011 greatly reduced the movement of migrants into Dadaab. Rainfall had also surpassed expectations and rivers were flowing again, improving the prospects of a good harvest in early 2012.