{The United Nations says it will not close Somali refugee camps in Kenya, despite an order from a government minister for the camps to shut down.}
Kenya hosts nearly 500,000 Somalis who have fled their country over the past 20 years, most of whom live in the sprawling Dadaab camps near the border.
On Sunday, Kenyan Internal Security Minister Joseph Lenku said the camps must close and refugees must prepare to return to Somalia.
Kitty McKinsey, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, said in an interview with VOA the agency is not taking Lenku’s words as a command.
“We do not believe that there is any order for the refugee camps in Kenya to be closed,” she said. “The Kenyan government and the Kenyan people have been very generous to the refugees over the years, and we certainly have every reason to expect that will continue to be the case.”
McKinsey emphasized that the agreement did not call for the refugee camps to be shut down.
“There are no plans to close the refugee camp,” she said. “Certainly the agreement that was signed among UNHCR, the govts of Kenya and Somalia does not call for the closing of the camps. There’s not going to be a closure any time soon, nobody is talking about closing the camps any time soon.”
VOA
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