Kenya postpones closure of Dadaab -“World’s largest refugee camp” for 6 months

Kenya said on Wednesday it had to agreed delay the closure of a teeming Somali refugee camp that it sees as a security risk – to give residents more time to find new homes.

Nairobi had vowed to shut Dadaab camp this month, saying it was being used by al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants from neighboring Somalia who have launched a string of attacks on Kenyan soil.

“The government has accepted the request to extend the deadline for the completion of repatriation of Somali refugees, and this is essential to the closure of the Dadaab refugee complex, by 6 months,” Interior Secretary Joseph Ole Nkaissery said.

“However, the ongoing voluntary repatriation will continue uninterrupted,” he told a news conference.

This week, an official within Kenya’s government had told reporters that the November deadline would be missed, although he did not give a new timetable. He also dismissed accusations from Amnesty International and others about forcible repatriations.

The official said the camp was now home to about 250,000 people, while U.N. officials had put the figure at about 350,000 at the start of the year. More than half a million people lived there a few years ago.

Somalia’s government is battling an Islamist insurgency as it oversees a fragile reconstruction effort after decades of conflict.

Source: Reuters