Just one day before the end of the 14-day ultimatum issued by the Kenyan Interior Ministry to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to draw up a roadmap for the closure of the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, which accommodate more than 400,000 people.
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Kenya’s two largest refugee camps are now in danger of being closed by the government. Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps host at least 410,000 people from different countries including but not limited to Somali, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi.
On March 24, Kenyan Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i said the UNHCR had two weeks to come up with a plan to close Dadaab and Kakuma camps.
Otherwise, the authorities warned that they would force refugees to travel to Somalia’s border. In a tweet, the Kenyan Interior Ministry called the demand an “ultimatum” and said there was no room for further negotiations.
Austin Baboya, a South Sudanese man living in the Kakuma refugee camp, told Aljazeera: “I do not know if the (Kenyan) government has sat down and thought about the lives of people living in the camp or if they just wake up and make decisions.”
“Right now (across) the whole camp, the information has caused a panic and very many people have lost hope,” added Baboya, who at the age of 26 has felt no home other than a refugee camp.
The UNHCR responded to Kenya by saying that it was grateful for the Kenyan government’s generosity in hosting so many refugees for so long but was “concerned about the impact this decision would have on the protection of refugees in Kenya, including in the context of the ongoing Covid19 pandemic.”
The agency also said it would continue dialogue with the Kenyan authorities before the April 6 deadline, warning the government to “ensure that all decisions enable appropriate and sustainable solutions and that those who continue to need protection can receive it.”
The first refugee camp in Dadaab was built in 1992, while the Kakum refugee camp was established in 1992. The number of registered refugees and asylum seekers living in these camps is 218,873 in Dadaab and 196,666 in Kakum. That means a total of 415,539, according to the latest information from July 2020 on the UNHCR’s website.
Kakuma is located in the northwestern part of Kenya while Dadaab is located in eastern Kenya, near the Somali border, but many Somalis have moved between the two camps.
The Kenyan government previously tried to close Dadaab in 2016, after intelligence reports seemed to show that the attacks in 2013 and 2015 against Kenyan targets had links to the camps. The closure was blocked by Kenya’s Supreme Court.
“I was devastated when I heard that the Kenyan government is threatening to close the two camps,” said Hibo Mohamed, a 24-year-old Somali resident who has lived in Kakuma for 10 years.
She described Somalia as an “unstable country that is still experiencing terrorist attacks over and over again”, adding that “Kakuma has become a home for me, where I found peace.”
“It’s very scary because we do not know the next step, as to where we are going from here,” said David Omot, an Ethiopian who has lived in both Kakuma and Dadaab since 2005, about the closure order. “Where are we going? At home we still have some uncertainty, there are still some problems that people face, especially young people. ”
The 26-year-old emphasized that many people have lived there for 20 years or more and noted that some were even born in the refugee camps. The residents of the camps do not own property in the countries they fled, he noted, adding that he was worried about young refugees studying in Kenya. “It would be quite difficult for them to go back and start life again,” he said.
Some Kenyan commentators have accused the authorities of threatening the international community with the closure order for economic reasons. “The Kenyan government sees Dadaab as the bank where it routinely withdraws and uses the threat to shut it down to bribe the international community,” tweeted prominent Kenyan political commentator and cartoonist Patrick Gathara.
Abdullahi Mohamed Ali, a former Somali intelligence chief, said the Kenyan government was for the most part “exaggerating” security concerns surrounding refugee camps. He added that several armed groups could infiltrate the camps but “in general I do not think refugees are (a) a security threat (on a larger scale).”
Baboya, the 26-year-old from South Sudan, said he wanted the Kenyan government to reconsider its position and for the UNHCR and international donors to help find a solution. “Before the camp was open, many people lost their lives. Many people fled their home countries … They have found a place to call home and I do not think many of them are willing to return. ”
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