EU aid chief to visit Kenya amid drought

European Union aid chief Kristalina Georgieva is to travel to Kenya Friday and Saturday to take stock of what the bloc can do to tackle the Horn of Africa's famine and drought crisis. The foreign ministry of Poland -- currently at the helm of the 27-nation EU -- said Thursday that Georgieva would travel with Polish deputy foreign minister Krzysztof Stanowski. "They will assess the situation in the Dadaab refugee camp in the east of the country near the border with Somalia," the ministry said in a statement. "The camp is currently home to four times more refugees than its infrastructure allows," it said. Some 1,300 Somalis fleeing conflict and drought are arriving daily at the camp, according to the UN refugee agency. The camp was built for 90,000 people. But it is now home to nearly 440,000, including 59,000 who are living on the outskirts of the camp. With the worst drought in 60 years hitting the Horn of Africa, the flow of Somali refugees arriving at the camp has increased over recent months, putting resources there under severe strain. Over 78,000 Somalis have fled to seek refuge in neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya in the last two months. Some 12 million people are battling hunger in the region, and on Wednesday the UN officially declared famine in two southern regions of Somalia, where the crisis has exacerbated the effects of two decades of civil war.