The days of Somali refugees in Kenya are numbered. The government has ordered the closure of the Dadaab Refugee Camp, arguably the largest such facility in Africa hosting Somali nationals who have fled their war-torn country, which is run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Deputy President William Ruto, speaking in Nyeri today, hinted the camp would be closed in three months’ time. The refugee camp is said to be a breeding den of terrorists. Most terrorism suspects’ roots have been traced to the Dadaap camp.
Mr Ruto said that the government had held discussions with the UNHCR and asked the agency to relocate the camp that currently hosts more that 600,000 refugees of Somali origin to Somalia. “We have asked the UNHCR to relocate the refugees in three months, failure to which we shall relocate them ourselves,” he said.
Most Somalis enter the country under the guise of refugees and Al Shabaab, the terror group linked to Al Qaeda, appears to be taking advantage of the refugee camp to access Kenya, an ally of the anti-terror group of nations led by the US and Britain.
“The way the US changed after 9/11 and so will Kenya change after Garissa (university terror attack),” Mr Ruto said in a stern move that will have far-reaching effects not just on Somalia and Kenya, but also likely to spark international attention.
It won’t be business as usual, the DP said in a clear indication of the no-nonsense stance the government of Kenya has taken after the campus massacre. The closure of Dadaab will see thousands of Somalis flood back to their country and worsen the humanitarian crisis in that country, which has known no peace for over 20 years now. International humanitarian organisations will have to find alternative venues to provide assistance to displaced Somalis, who will now become internally displaced persons.
This came as various families continued to bury the 148 people, mainly students, who were killed in the Garissa University siege. Al Shabaab took responsibility of the attack that has raised the terror risk in Kenya and thrown the tourism industry into a tail spin.
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