Kenya should end its “dogged determination”
to close the Dadaab refugee
camps and instead help refugees integrate
into local communities, Amnesty
International has said.
Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty’s regional
director for East Africa, the Horn and the
Great Lakes, yesterday said, “ Thousands
of refugees remain at risk of forced
repatriation to a war-torn country where
they are at risk of death or injury in the
ongoing conflict.”
In May, the government said it will close
the camps by November 30, citing terror
threats, the economic burden and lack
of global support to host the more than
300,000 refugees.
On Wednesday,
it said it will extend the closure of the
camps by six months.
Wanyeki urged the international community
to share the refugee burden by
providing more resettlement places.
On Tuesday, Amnesty released a report
detailing “evidence” that refugees at the
world’s largest camp are being coerced
to leave.
But Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery
denied Kenya is bullying refugees
into returning to Somalia, saying the
process is “humane, safe and dignified”.
