UNHCR says 70,000 Somalia refugees willing to return home

Approximately 70,000 Somalia refugees based at Kenya's Dabaab refugee camp are willing to return to their home country by the end of the year, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Kenya Assistant Representative in Charge of Protection Catherine Hamon Sharpe said that this figure represents approximately 25 percent of Somalia refugees in Kenya.

"We therefore think that the deadline given by the Kenya government to close the Dabaab camp in Nov. is not realistic if the refugees are to be repatriated voluntarily in a dignified and humane manner," Sharpe said during a panel discussion on refugee issues in Nairobi.

Sharpe said that they have urged the Kenyan government to reconsider its decision to close the Dabaab camp.

"We are therefore engaging the Kenyan authorities so that they extend the voluntary repatriation agreement that expires in November," she added.

The UN official said that currently 2,000 Somali refugees at the Dabaab transition camp have signed for voluntary repatriations.

"However, they can't leave the camp because the Jubaland (in southern Somalia) officials have refused to receive them," she said.

In 2013, the UNHCR, Kenya and Somalia signed a tripartite agreement for the voluntary repatriation of Kenya-based Somali refugees back to Somalia.

In 2011 during the Horn of Africa drought, Kenya hosted over 500,000 Somalia refugees, however by December 2014, the figure had reduced by 100,000.

Sharpe said that since 2014, UNHCR has assisted in the voluntary repatriation of 28,000 back to Somalia.

Source: XINHUA