“For reasons of pressing national security that speak to the safety of Kenyans in a context of terrorist and criminal activities, the government of the Republic of Kenya has commenced the exercise of closing Dadaab refugee complex,” Kenyan interior minister, Joseph Nkaissery, said at a news conference in Nairobi.
Nkaissery claims that al-Shabaab is using the camp to smuggle weapons.
“The refugees will be repatriated to their countries of origin or to third-party countries for resettlement.”
Human rights groups are already speaking out against the deportation plan, requiring refugees to depart by May 2017. The groups, including the UN, have called the plan dangerous and irresponsible, noting that it will force large numbers of people to re-enter a country plagued by war.
Simpson detailed that, without food or shelter, people being forced out of the camps become easier targets for recruitment by extremist groups.
“Shutting down the refugee camps will mean increased protection risks for the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers – [the] majority of who are women, children and unaccompanied minors,” Oxfam, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee, and many other aid groups, said in a joint statement urging the government to reconsider.
“The current humanitarian situation in Somalia and South Sudan remains dire and fragile. Somalia is faced with drought and other security risks that are likely to see an increase in displacement and vulnerability,” reads the statement.
