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The Dadaab refugee camp is home to about 230,000 people. By TONY KARUMBA (AFP)
A quarter of a million Somali refugees are victims of violence in their country if Kenya continues its plans to close the vast Dadaab camp, human rights groups warned.
Kenya has announced its intention to close by August the camp complex located in the east of the country, near the Somali border, according to internal documents of the UN.
"Many Somali refugees are themselves victims of violence, from where they fled for protection," said Otsieno Namwaya of Human Rights Watch, adding that the plan "threatened the rights and security" of the country. population.
"Forcing them to return to face violence or persecution would be inhumane and a violation of Kenya's legal obligations," Namwaya added.
Amnesty International said Kenya should seek solutions, including integration into Kenyan society and resettlement in third countries.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in a document seen by AFP that it was committed to working with the government on voluntary repatriation in countries of the world. origin, resettlement of refugees in other parts of Kenya and resettlement in third countries.
An official of Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the government had sent a note to UNHCR informing them of the closure of the camp, but that he would not discuss it further.
"Kenya is in the midst of a humanitarian disaster and international criticism that it intends to forcibly return hundreds of thousands of refugees to Somalia without consultation, planning, and respect for the security of those refugees," said the head of the country. 39 Amnesty in Kenya, Irungu Houghton.
Dadaab has about 230,000 inhabitants. The vast majority of them are Somalis who fled the civil war in 1991. Many of them have been living there ever since.
For many years, Dadaab has been the largest refugee camp in the world – it once numbered up to 580,000 – although it is now much smaller and of a size smaller than that Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh, home to about 600,000 people fleeing Myanmar.
Kenya, which sent troops to Somalia in 2011 following a series of kidnappings by Al-Shabaab insurgents led by Somalia, says the camp poses a security risk. The Kenyan army remains in Somalia, prompting revenge attacks by Shabaab linked to Al Qaeda in Kenya.
Kenya has already decided to close the camp.
In May 2016, Kenya decided to close the camp and tens of thousands of refugees returned to Somalia as part of a repatriation program.
However, many have experienced drought, hunger and terrible conditions in a country ravaged by decades of conflict, where five million people lack food and the war continues.
A year later, Kenya's High Court declared the camp's closure plan unconstitutional.
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