• The UN refugee agency urged to extend the gesture to those who had worked in the other closed settlements within the vast Dadaab refugee camp.
• Fafi MP Abdikarim Osman says the donation will go a long way in helping the former employees and their families to settle down.
The UN High Commission for Refugees has donated 156 camels to the support staff of the now closed Alinjugur camp in Garissa's Fafi sub-county.
The 78 beneficiaries worked at the camp until last year when it was closed. The donation of the Sh10 million mature camels was a form of severance package.
Local member of Parliament Abdikarim Osman welcomed the donation, noting that it will go a long way in helping the former employees and their families.
Osman said all the affected people are pastoralists and the camels will help them settle down as they explore other ways of earning a living.
“These people worked as cleaners and guards and were not earning much. They may not have saved much. I want to thank the UNHCR for accepting my appeal to assist them,” the MP said during the handover of the animals on Friday.
He urged the beneficiaries not to sell the animals and instead care for them so that they can provide milk for sale and consumption.
He urged the UN refugee agency to extend the gesture to those who had worked in the now closed settlements within the vast Dadaab refugee camp.
Abdi Hassan, one of the beneficiaries, thanked the UNHCR, saying camels will boost their families' sources of livelihood.
“We want to thank UNHCR and the area MP for his role in pushing for this. When we unexpectedly lost our jobs we thought all was lost but thank God we have a source of income in the form of camels,” Abdi said.
The gradual closure of the camps is part of the November 10, 2013, tripartite agreement signed by the governments of Kenya and Somalia and UNHCR for voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees.
Subsequently, UNHCR and partners drafted an operations plan for a pilot project to support the return process under the auspices of the Tripartite Commission, established under the Tripartite Agreement.
Several camps, among them Kambioos and Alinjugur, have been closed since December 2014 under the voluntary refugee repatriation agreement.
Operations in the main Dadaab camps — Hagadera, Dagahaley and Ifo — have been scaled down with several humanitarian agencies closing their offices.