Kenya is
demanding the United Nations close a massive refugee camp for Somalis as part
of its ‘get tough’ response in the wake of the Garissa university terror
attack, which killed 148 people.
The Kenyan
government says the UN has three months to shut the camp. If the UN does not
meet the deadline Kenya says it will forcefully repatriate refugees back to
Somalia.
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| Aerial view of Dadaab refugee camp |
The UN High Commission
for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kenya said it hasn’t received a formal request from the
government to close Dadaab and could not comment.
Kenya has in
the past accused Islamist militants of hiding out in Dadaab refugee camp.
The complex
of camps hosts more than 600,000 Somali refugees, which is about an hour's
drive from Garissa.
The camp was
first established in 1991 when civil war broke out in neighboring Somalia, and
over subsequent years has received waves of refugees fleeing conflict and
drought.
Analysts say
while moving hundreds of thousands of refugees would be a logistical nightmare,
there are now safe zones within Somalia where Islamist al Shabaab militants have
been beaten back by African Union forces in recent years.
Meanwhile Kenya
says its pushing ahead with construction of a 700 kilometre long wall, to seal
off the along the entire length of its border with Somalia to keep out members
of al Shabaab.