Mandera District

Mandera is one of three districts in the North-eastern Province of Kenya, closest to the Ethiopian and Somalia borders. It is an area prone to drought and food insecurity and has a population of 131,000 with 37,900 estimated as living in Central Mandera. The district is geographically isolated and has weak links with other districts. Its people are ethnic Somalis who are traditionally nomadic pastoralists but now fall more into the category of agro-pastoralists as they practice some cultivation of staple crops - maize and beans. Central Mandera has been a settlement for Somali refugees since 1991 and about 10,000 of these refugees still live in the former refugee camps which are now considered official locations. During the severe drought of 1991-2 livestock holdings were drastically reduced so that many families became destitute and were forced to migrate to Central Mandera.

Between 1994-6 there were three successive rain failures in the district but from late 2005 there has been another severe famine.

Mandera town

The town Mandera is the capital of the Mandera District. The town is located at around 3°55′34″N, 41°50′46″E and has a population of 30,433 (1999 census).