Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has ordered the closure of Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps for posing a threat to the country’s security.
The CS has given the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 14 days to develop a road map on definite closure of the two camps.
UNHCR is a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.
“There is no room for negotiation. We must strike a balance between Kenya’s international obligation and her domestic duties. We do have a domestic responsibility to protect Kenya,” Matiang’i said in a letter to UNHCR representative to Kenya Fadhilaa Addala.
In the letter, the Kenyan authorities cited terror threats as the main reason for the closure directive.
Read: Kakuma and Dadaab Refugee Camps To Be Put On Lockdown Over Covid-19 Fears
The government also expressed concerns over neglect by other countries in managing over 500,000 refugees accommodated in the two camps.
The UN representative, however, said that she would present the matter to UNHCR senior officials and said that the commission was committed to finding new solutions that would see the refugees reduced in Kenya.
The Dadaab refugee complex had a population of 218,873 registered refugees and asylum seekers as at the end of July 2020.
Read Also: Locals Clash With LGBTI Members In Kakuma, One Person Injured
The complex consists of three camps. They are Dagahaley, Ifo and Hagadera. The first two are located in Lagdera (Dadaab) district while Hagadera is located in the neighbouring Fafi district.
Dagahaley camp was established in 1991 when refugees fleeing the civil war in Somalia started to cross the border into Kenya. A second large influx occurred in 2011, when some 130,000 refugees arrived, fleeing drought and famine in southern Somalia.
Read Also: Gov’t Orders Closure of Dadaab Refugee Camp, Leaked UN Document Reveals
On the other hand, Kakuma refugee camp is located in the outskirts of Kakuma town, which is the headquarters for Turkana West District of Turkana County.
Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement had a population of 196,666 registered refugees and asylum-seekers at the end of July 2020.
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