Kenya issued an order on Wednesday to close two large-scale camps home to hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighboring Somalia, giving the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) two weeks to present a plan to implement the order, the Interior Ministry said.
Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in northern Kenya together host more than 410,000 people, a small proportion of whom come from South Sudan.
Authorities in Nairobi first announced their intention to close the Dadaab camp, which is closer to the border with Somalia than Kakuma, as early as 2016, citing national security concerns.
Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i has now given the UNHCR 14 days to draw up a plan to close both Dadaab and Kakuma, his ministry said in a tweet, adding that there was no room for further talks on the issue.
The UNHCR called on Kenya to ensure that those in need of protection continue to receive it and promised to continue participating in dialogue.
“The decision would have an impact on the protection of refugees in Kenya, including in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” the UNHCR said in a statement.
Somali authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Kenyan government’s attempt to close Dadaab in 2016 was based on intelligence reports suggesting that the two major attacks on Kenyan targets in 2013 and 2015 took place with the involvement of elements in the camps. The plan was blocked by the Supreme Court, which called the procedure unconstitutional.
The camp was founded three decades ago and was once the world’s largest refugee camp, where no more than half a million people fled violence and drought in Somalia.
Kakuma, located in the northwest, is home to more than 190,000 refugees, some from neighboring southern Sudan.
Kenyan authorities told the UNCHR on Tuesday that they would take refugees to the Somali border if the camps are not closed, the Daily Nation reported. The Interior Ministry told Reuters that the report was accurate.
Kenya’s move comes as relations with Somalia deteriorate, after Mogadishu severed diplomatic ties with Nairobi in December last year and accused the country of interfering in its internal affairs.
The two nations are also facing international court over a border dispute at sea, although Kenya has boycotted the hearing.
Kenya’s Interior Ministry told Reuters that the move to close the camps was not related to diplomatic difficulties with Somalia.
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