United Nations asks Kenya to rethink Dadaab closure

A section of the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp in North Eastern region. The camp is the largest in the world. [Photo: AFP/TONY KARUMBA]

Kenya: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged Kenya to reconsider a plan to close the Dadaab refugee camp, saying it would not be party to any transfer of Somalis back to their homeland, which violates international law.

Deputy President William Ruto said on Saturday the State was giving UNHCR three months to remove the camp housing hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees, as part of its response to the killing of 148 people in Garissa.

Kenya has in the past accused Islamist militants of using the refugee camp as a hide-out.

In its first reaction, the UNHCR voiced concern at the "abrupt closing" of the world's largest refugee camp that hosts 350,000 registered Somali refugees, saying it "would have extreme humanitarian and practical consequences".

Forced return

"We are thus urging the Kenyan authorities to give the matter further consideration," UNHCR spokeswoman Karin de Gruijl told a news briefing in Geneva. "The main issue is the voluntariness of returns. If these people were forced to return, it could be in breach of international law and UNHCR would not facilitate such a move," she said, citing the UN Refugee Convention of 1951.

Njonjo Mue, an adviser with Kenyans for Peace, Truth and Justice in Nairobi, said the logistics of emptying Dadaab "boggle the mind" and could play into Al-Shabaab's hands.

"Basically, we would be handing over to Al-Shabaab a ready-made army of, say, 200,000 young men who will have nothing to do," he said.