Kenya headed for clash with UN over refugee camp closure

House Administration and National Security committee chair Asman Kamama. FILE 

By EDWIN MUTAI,

In Summary

• State says it aims to send back home refugees in two years.
• The two-year deadline could be a source of friction with the UN, which has warned that it will only support voluntary return of Somali refugees that will not involve vetting or setting deadlines for the closure of the camps.

Kenya is headed for a clash with the UN following Thursday’s announcement that the country will close refugee camps within two years and repatriate more than half a million immigrants to their countries.

The House Administration and National Security committee said the government is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Somali administration to ensure proper and co-ordinated repatriation after the signing of a tripartite agreement to return refugees home.

The two-year deadline could be a source of friction with the UN, which has warned that it will only support voluntary return of Somali refugees that will not involve vetting or setting deadlines for the closure of the camps.

“As at September 2013, Kenya was host to a total of 592,219 refugees of which 476,635 or 80 per cent are Somalis,” Asman Kamama said while presenting a ministerial statement signed by Interior and National Coordination secretary Joseph ole Lenku.

“The population has recently decreased because some refugees are returning to Somalia.”

He added that the decision to repatriate refugees and close down camps was arrived at due to the rising insecurity threats.

READ: British government to support repatriation of Somali refugees

“We have a lot of evidence to show that quite a number of terrorists are being trained in the refugee camps, especially in Daadab and Kakuma,” Mr Kamama said.

“We have concrete information and this is not fiction as we will be showing in our report on the investigations into the Westgate Mall terrorist’s attacks which we will table next week.”

The UN said the implementation of voluntary repatriation will initially concentrate on supporting refugees who are spontaneously returning to Somalia.

“UNHCR does not support forced returns,” UN Refugee Agency spokesperson Adrian Edwards said in Geneva on Tuesday.

Ethiopian refugee’s population in the country stood at 31,693, Sudan (7,843), Democratic Republic of Congo (14,097), Rwandese (1,719), and Eritreans (1,803).


Others are refugees from Burundi (5,092), South Sudan (48,010) and Uganda (1,180).

The Daadab complex hosts 405,477 refugees mainly from Somalia while Kakuma camp in Turkana is home to 125,803 refugees.