Somali refugee camps in Kenya swell past 400,000 – in pictures

Habiba Ibrahim Iftin, 35, who came to Dadaab from Somalia with five other families, walking on main roads and at one point coming under attack from bandits Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Suroro Mohamed Ali, 18, had her first child in November 2010. She came to Dadaab worried her hunger would mean she was not able to continue to breastfeed Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Ali Maolim Hassan, 46, reluctantly joined the exodus to Kenya in early July, making a perilous overland journey with his wife and eight children that ended with them robbed and abandoned by their bus driver just miles from their destination Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Halima Iman Ahmed, 65, left her home in darkness to avoid Islamist militias trying to prevent people leaving. She says Dadaab has "no mattress for an old woman" but at least there is food and peace Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Maolim Adow Maolim, 45, was a teacher at a Dugsi, or Qur'anic school. Unable to afford escalating food prices in his rebel-controlled home he set off for Kenya with his family and on the outskirts of one of the refugee camps has now set up a new Dugsi under a thorn tree Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Madahir Boarow Mohamed, 16, walked to Dadaab with two of his brothers after the October and April rains failed. There was only enough money for his mother and four of the youngest children to take a truck headed for Kenya. Mohamed and two of his brothers had to walk Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Habiba Ibrahim Iftin and baby Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Rahmo Ibrahim Abdi, 23, did not want to leave Somalia, staying on with her husband and four young children when most of their neighbours had left in search of relief food. They sold their last animals to raise the $240 to secure standing room in a truck to Kenya Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

A young woman feeds her new-born baby in a tent in IFO Extension, the new camp in Dadaab Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Carcass of cattle in Dadaab camp, Kenya Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

A Somali family move their belongings into new tents in the IFO Extension in Dadaab, Kenya Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Maolim Adow Maolim, 45, with children at his makeshift Dugsi, or Qur'anic school, under a thorn tree in Dadaab. Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian

Dadaab camp, Kenya. The world's biggest refugee settlement is home to more than 400,000 people Photograph: Sven Torfinn for the Guardian