DADAAB REFUGEE CAMP CLOSURE
Kenya government announced closure of Dadaab refugee camp saying it has been providing a fertile ground for breeding terrorists.
Dadaab camp located near the Kenya-Somalia border is considered one of the world’s largest refugee camps.
The announcement made by Interior Principal Secretary on the closure of Kakuma and Dadaab camps has caught the UN attention, calling on the government to rethink on the decision.
Kenya is hosting over 600,000 refugees with nearly half a million coming from the war torn Somalia. Kakuma houses about 190,000 refugees from South Sudan.
The government of Kenya has cited the closure of the camps because of its economic constraints and a threat to its national security.
The government has also reiterated that it’s not ready for more burgeoning refugee movement that has been spilling across its borders since the 1990s.
Kenya called on international community to take responsibility for the needs of the refugees and start absorbing more refugees.
According to Interior PS, Karanja Kibicho, there has been the voluntary repatriation process of sending Somali refugees back to Somalia, but it has been very slow.
