Statement of UN High Commissioner for Refugees on the kidnapping of MSF staff at Kenya's Dadaab

GENEVA, 13 October (UNHCR) - UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, today expressed his deep shock and indignation at the violent abduction at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya of two female MSF staff and the shooting of their driver.

"These MSF colleagues were working to rescue lives," he said. "It is wholly unacceptable that they should be made targets for kidnap. I appeal to those responsible to facilitate their immediate and safe return."

The Dadaab refugee complex is the world's largest refugee camp and currently hosts 463,739 Somali refugees. The camp's population has swollen this year with the arrival in Kenya of more than 190,000 refugees from Somalia.

The two MSF staff members were abducted from the Ifo extension area of the camp at around 13:20 local time today. Their driver, who was shot, is receiving urgent medical attention in Nairobi.