Kenya has ordered the closure of the massive Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, which collectively host over 500,000 people, within the next two weeks.
The government is citing national security threats posed by some of the refugees, including past terror attacks that have been linked to accomplices of the Somali-based Al-Shabaab militant group within the camps.
The government on Tuesday gave the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) a 14-day ultimatum to ensure closure of the facilities, failing which it plans to transport the refugees to the border with Somalia.
Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiangí, yesterday communicated the Kenyan government’s decision to the UNHCR representative in Kenya, Fathiaa Abdalla.
Dr Matiangí had called the UNHCR delegation for talks at Harambee House, arising from Kenya’s concerns that the international community had reneged on a previous agreement to repatriate the refugees.
Dr Matiangí reportedly told the UNHCR delegation “there is no room for negotiations” about the closure.
“We must strike a balance between Kenya’s international obligations and her domestic duty. We do have a domestic responsibility to protect Kenyans,” Dr Matiangí said.
Officials said Kenya could no longer continue to bear the burden of the two camps that have been in operation since the early 1990s, when Somalia plunged into civil war.
Besides straining resources, Kenya says national security has been comprised through terror attacks reportedly planned from the sprawling camps “while the international community continues to pay lip service.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government had initially agreed on the repatriation in November 2013 with Somalia and the UNHCR, which would have seen the refugees return home over a three-year period.
Kenya has protested that the international community, including UNHCR, never honored a pledge to contribute to a kitty to facilitate the repatriation. Kenya, which was the only contributor having put in $10 million (Sh1 billion), says a United Nations camp can be set up in Somalia.
Nairobi has also protested that the world powers have frustrated attempts to have the Al-Shabaab who operate from bases in war-torn Somalia designated as a terrorist organization.
The resolution has in the past been shot down at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), under the guise that doing so would hamper humanitarian work in the war-torn Somalia.
The urgency to shut down the camps was stressed by three terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of over 100.
Kenya cited intelligence that terror attacks on Westgate mall in 2013, Lamu’s Mpeketoni in 2014 and Garissa University in 2015 were planned from the camps.
Kenya hosts 127,412 refugees from South Sudan, DRC (46,024), Ethiopia (29,718), Burundi (17,286), Rwanda (1,917), Eritrea (1,955), Uganda (2,739), Sudan (10,199) and 945 from other nationalities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has scheduled a meeting on Friday with ambassadors of the other neighboring countries to discuss the fate of their citizens. The talks will either explore whether those who merit can acquire legal papers or get them all to go back home.
Kenya is, however, unable to extend similar diplomacy to Somalia because Mogadishu severed diplomatic ties with Nairobi, alleging interference in the Horn of Africa nation’s elections.
Somalia skipped arbitration mechanisms available through its 1979 memorandum of understanding with Kenya, the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), African Union (AU) and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and instead filed a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Judges have retreated to compile the judgment following one-sided public hearings involving Somalia after Kenya withdrew from the proceedings, alleging bias.
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