Over 80,000 South Sudanese refugees risk eviction as Kenya seeks to close camps
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Close to 100,000 South Sudanese refugees residing in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp face an uncertain future after the Kenyan government petitioned the UN for a plan to close camps.
According to Kenyan media, the country’s Cabinet Secretary for Interior Dr Fred Matiang’i, and his docket Principal Secretary Dr Karanja Kibicho, issued a directive to Kenya’s UNHCR representative Fathiaa Abdalla to close Kakuma and Daadab camps.
The Kenyan government has lately been pushing for the closure of the two refugee camps arguing that they have become coordination points for the Al-Shabaab terrorist group from Somalia.
As of March 31, 2019, UNHCR approximated that Daadab camp—which is situated in Garissa County next to Kenya’s border with Somalia—hosted 210,556 refugees where 202,381 were from Somalia. The population in the camp has been growing due to the famine, insecurity and harsh living conditions in Somalia. The influx of the population in the camp has often raised public outcry as the Kenyan government argue that most criminal elements have found solace in the camp which they use to launch their activities.
At the time, Kakuma refugee camp hosted 149,967 people, where 80,567 (53.7 per cent) were from South Sudan while the others were from other countries like Somalia, DRC, Uganda, Ethiopia and Burundi.
UNHCR on the other hand has opposed the bid to close the camps as the agency always underpins Kenya’s obligation to accommodate asylum seekers as required in the UN human rights charter.
The UNHCR states in its website that political developments in Nairobi could immensely influence the humanitarian situation. But it also predicts even more influx owing to the fragility of security in the affected countries like South Sudan and Somalia.
It states: ‘‘The Kenya refugee operation will continue to be marked by the political developments and humanitarian situation in the region, mainly in its two main refugee producing countries i.e. Somalia and South Sudan.
‘‘In Somalia, despite the moderate gains made in the past three years, the humanitarian situation in 2020 is expected to remain fragile.’’
As of January 2021, the UNHCR approximated that Kenya hosted 508,033 refugees where 24.6 per cent are from South Sudan.
