Repatriation of Somali refugees from Dadaab easier said than done

NAIROBI: One of the immediate (and unfortunate) reactions following the Garissa University attack was a call by Muslim leaders from North Eastern that the Dadaab Refugee Camp - established in 1991 as Somalia imploded after the ouster of former President Siad Barre - should be closed.

To them, the camp has stopped being a place of refuge and become a recruiting and training ground for the Al-Shabaab terror group that has claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed nearly 500 Kenyans since 2013. Deputy President William Ruto's proclamation that the Government has ordered the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to close the camp within three months or Kenya will forcefully repatriate the more than 500,000 refugees in the camp is the stuff of political campaigns.