‘Over 66,800 Somali refugees in Kenya repatriated since December 2014’

Nairobi, June 9 (IANS/MAP) So far, 66,807 Somali refugees in Kenya have been repatriated to their country since the start of the voluntary return operation in December 2014, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has said.

A total of 65,470 refugees have been repatriated from the Dadaab camp in northeastern Kenya, the UN agency said in its latest report on Thursday, noting that 1,620 people returned to Somalia between May 16 and May 31 this year.

The agency said the number of Somali refugees who had joined their country since the beginning of the year reached 26,156.

UNHCR explained that the decline in the number of returnees during the past four weeks is attributable to "the drought and cholera outbreak, the suspension of road convoys due to heavy rain in several parts of Somalia".

Kenya announced in May 2016 its decision not to welcome new refugees, particularly Somali-born refugees, on its soil and that it would close the two main camps of Dadaab and Kakuma for national security reasons, which are home to over a half -million people.

However, the decision to close the Dadaab camp was annulled in February by the High Court, which ruled that this measure was "null and void", by ruling on a complaint filed by the Kenya National Commission of Rights (KNCHR) and the Kenyan NGO Kituo Cha Sheria.

Kenya has often defended the idea that radical Al-Shabab Islamists were hiding among the Somali refugees, accusations challenged by independent observers.

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