DADAAB ( Halbeeg News) – Kenya government has taken control of two camps vacated by Somalis repatriated to Somalia.
The camps established in 2011 to host refugees who fled Somalia following a severe drought that hit the Horn of Africa nation eight years.
According to Kenya’s Principal Secretary of Immigration, Gordon Kihalangwa, the move is part of the process to close one of the largest camps in the region, Dadaab.
Dadaab camp has been hosting over 500,000 refugees majority from Somalia for the last three decades.
The camps handed over to Kenya by U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR ) are Kambios and Ifo II.
Kihalangwa said the Dadaab camp presented security challenges to Kenya and had lost its status as a place of refuge.
“We still have al-Shabab in that end, and look at the proximity,” Kihalangwa said. “They have almost made this camp like it has lost its human character. It has lost the human character because certain insecurity activities are taking place here. I think it’s good we continue the voluntary repatriation and at an appropriate time. This camp will actually close.”
Meanwhile, Magatte Guisse of UNHCR in Dadaab called on Kenyan authorities to address the issue of unregistered arrivals in the camps.
“We have 15,000 asylum seekers, undocumented people in the camp,” said Guisse. “This is a security issue. Fifteen thousand unregistered people in a population of 211,000 in this border area — this should be addressed as quick as possible.”
More than 80,000 Somalis have been repatriated in the past five years in despite criticism from rights groups that said they were being forced to return.
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