Kenya: Hundreds of Somali refugees head back home

By Andrew Ross

NAIROBI, Kenya

Hundreds of Somali refugees in Kenya are continuing their journey back home, which government officials claim are all being done voluntarily.

On Tuesday, Kenyan Minister for Interior and Coordination of National government Joseph Nkaissery saw off seven families from the Dadaab refugee camp, considered one of the largest refugee camps in the world, as they left for their home country in Somalia.

“Kenya is a signatory to the international conventions that safeguard the interest and well-being of refugees, nobody will be forced to go back, the repatriation is voluntary and the Kenyan government is just facilitating the program,” Nkaissery said.

There are 462,970 Somali refugees currently in Kenya. Since 2013, over 5,400 refugees have returned to Somalia.

After the visit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guteress in May this year, Kenya decided to repatriate over 400,000 refugees voluntarily rather than forcibly as they had intended from the Dadaab Refugee camp in Kenya to Somalia.

Kenya reached the decision to repatriate refugees after an attack on a Kenyan University left more than 140 students dead last April. Kenyan authorities alleged that the camp was harboring militants and other suspected “terrorist sympathizers”.

Duke Mwancha, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told Anadolu Agency that the voluntary process will continue throughout the week.

“So far 41 people left Ifo camp yesterday [Monday] and are already in Somalia, the process will continue throughout the week and hopefully by the end of the week around 200 people will have voluntarily returned back home,” Mwancha said.

He added that the UN Refugee Agency suspended road convoys to Somalia because of the El Nino rains in the East African region.

“The process of voluntary repatriation is currently going on, the refugees are very informed they have access to media, they speak on phone to their relatives on daily basis in Somalia, those who have decided to go back have not been convinced by anybody, they decided by themselves after getting that information,” Mwancha added.