The Kenyan authorities want to close the world’s largest refugee camp.
The government of Kenya intends to close refugee camps, which are on the territory of the country, claiming that they are a serious economic burden for the country.
In addition, according to the authorities, the camps significantly worsen the crime situation, as well as create environmental problems, reports bi-Bi-si. This decision applies to the camp of Dadaab – the world’s largest refugee camp on the border with Somalia, where live more than 300 thousand people.
All in all, if the camps are closed, no housing will remain about 600 thousand people.
The authorities also dissolved the Department for refugees.
Kenya contains a refugee camp for 25 years, reminded the representative of the Ministry of internal Affairs of the country, Karanja Kibito. According to him, in the camps of the militants recruited for participation in the group “Al-Shabab” associated with “al-Qaeda” that carried out attacks in the country.
In 2013, Kenya had signed with the Somali government and the Commission for refugees of the UN agreement on the voluntary repatriation of refugees. However, according to Kibito, this process is very slow.
In the camp of Dadaab live mostly refugees from Somalia. In Kakuma camp, which also needs to disband, I live about 190 thousand people. Mostly refugees from southern Sudan who left the country because of the civil war.
Against the closure of the camps was made by human rights organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. According to human rights activists, the authorities did not provide evidence that refugees are associated with radical Islamists. Human rights activists believe that the authorities in Kenya need to think about the integration of refugees, many of whom have for several generations lived in camps
