Nairobi
(AFP) - A quarter of a million Somali refugees face violence back home
if Kenya continues with plans to shut the vast Dadaab camp, rights
groups warned Thursday.
Kenya
has submitted plans to shut the camp complex located in the east of the
country near Somali border by August, according to internal UN
documents.
"Many
Somali refugees are themselves victims of violence, from which they
fled to seek protection," said Otsieno Namwaya from Human Rights Watch,
adding that the plan "threatens the rights and safety" of the people.
"Forcing
them to go back to face violence or persecution would be inhumane and a
violation of Kenya's legal obligations," Namwaya added.
Amnesty
International said Kenya should look for solutions, including
integration into Kenyan society and resettlement to third countries.
The
UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a document seen by AFP it was
committed to working with the government on voluntary repatriation to
countries of origin, relocating refugees to other parts of Kenya and
resettlement to third countries.
A
Kenyan foreign ministry official confirmed to AFP on condition of
anonymity that government had sent a note to the UNHCR advising them of
the closure of the camp, but would not discuss the matter further.
"Kenya
courts a humanitarian disaster and international criticism if it
intends to forcibly return hundreds of thousands of refugees to Somalia
without proper consultation, planning and regard for their safety,"
Kenya's Amnesty chief Irungu Houghton said.
Dadaab
is home to some 230,000 people. The vast majority of them are Somalis
who fled civil war in 1991. Many have lived there ever since.
For
many years Dadaab was the world's largest refugee camp -- with once as
many as 580,000 residents -- although it is now far smaller and dwarfed
in size by Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh, home to some 600,000 people
fleeing Myanmar.
Kenya,
which sent troops into Somalia in 2011 following a spate of kidnappings
by Somali-led Al-Shabaab insurgents, claims the camp is a security
risk. Kenya's military remains in Somalia, prompting revenge attacks by
the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab in Kenya.
Kenya has moved to shut the camp before.
In
May 2016, Kenya decided to close the camp, and tens of thousands of
refugees returned to Somalia under a repatriation package.
However,
many encountered drought, hunger and dire conditions in a country
destroyed by decades of conflict, where five million lack enough food,
and where war continues.
A year later, Kenya's High Court ruled the plan to close the camp was unconstitutional.