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Kenya plans to close all of its refugee camps in a move that would displace more than 600,000 people.
The country's government said it was shutting down the camps due to “very heavy” economic, security and environmental issues. Those due to close include Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world, home to more than 300,000 people on the Kenya-Somalia border.
Karanja Kibicho, Kenya’s secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, cited the influence of terror group Al-Shabaab as among the risks of keeping the camps open.
Mr Kibicho said in a statement: "Kenya, having taken into consideration its national security interests, has decided that hosting of refugees has come to an end.
"The Government of Kenya acknowledges that the decision will have adverse effects on the lives of refugees and therefore the international community must collectively take responsibility on humanitarian needs that will arise out of this action."
It is not yet clear when the closures will begin, but the Kenyan government has already disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs, which worked with humanitarian organisations for the welfare of the refugees. The closures mean Somali asylum seekers would be forced to return to the situation they fled.
Young Somali boys attending school lessons in the Dadaab refugee camp (Getty) Mwenda Njoka, interior ministry spokesman, added: "The message is clear; we are closing the camps and we will not accept more refugees in the country."
Human rights groups lambasted the decision, expressing concern at the hundreds of thousands of refugees it could put in danger.
Somali refugees living in fear in Kenya’s Dadaab camp Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International's regional director in East Africa, told The Independent : “This reckless decision by the Kenyan government is an abdication of its duty to protect the vulnerable and will put thousands of lives at risk.
"It could lead to the involuntary return of thousands of refugees to Somalia and other countries of origin, where their lives may still be in danger. This would be in violation of Kenya’s obligations under international law.”
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In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees Refugees queue to register at a temporary camp in northern Iraq
Getty Images
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In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees A child refugee from the northern province of Raqqa in Syria, reacts from the cold weather in a Syrian refugee camp beside the Lebanese border town of Arsal, in eastern Bekaa Valley
Reuters
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PA
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees Refugee baby Rim in the settlement of Qab Elias in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
PA
In pictures: Global refugee crisis African refugees Refugees arriving at a camp near Bossangoa, 190 miles north of Bangui, the capital. Forty-one thousand people fled their homes following mass executions in the area
Juan Carlos Tomasi/Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders
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In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees Families arrive at a Kurdish checkpoint next to a temporary displacement camp in Kalak
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In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees Iraqi refugees from Mosul arrive at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad
AP
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees The international Red Cross said that the road from Bor to the nearby Awerial area 'is lined with thousands of people' waiting for boats so they could cross the Nile River and that the gathering of displaced 'is the largest single identified concentration of displaced people in the country so far'
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees People unload the few belongings at Minkammen, that they were able to bring with them to the camps
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Thousands of exhausted civilians are crowding into the fishing village of Minkammen, a once-tiny riverbank settlement of a few thatch huts 25 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of Bor
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Many people had spent days hiding out in the bush outside Bor as gunmen battled for control of the town, which has exchanged hands three times in the conflict, and remains in rebel control
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A young boy pulls his suitcase of belongings as he walks to find a place to rest after getting off a river barge from Bor
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A displaced family camp under a tree providing partial shade from the midday sun
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A boy carries a fish, caught from the nearby Nile river, in a cardboard box on his head back to his relatives to eat
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A mother and her baby, one of the few to have a mosquito net, wake up in the morning after sleeping in the open
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Surrounded by barbed wire, people wait inside a camp for internally displaced families located inside a United Nations base in Juba
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Ajay Galuak Akoy (10) carries water in Bor
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In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A girl fills a container with muddy water in the Ajuong Thok Refugee Camp
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A girl carries water from a communal water point inside a camp for internally displaced families located inside a United Nations base in Juba
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In pictures: Global refugee crisis Myanmar refugees 32 year old Mahada Khatum, 5 year old Hasan Sharif, and 9 year old Umma Kulsum sit outside their home in the Shamalapur Rohingya refugee settlement in Chittagong district. The family escaped violence and discrimination from the Zomgara Baharchara village in the Meherulla district of Myanmar
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Myanmar refugees Hamid and his daughter Rajama sit inside their home in the Shamalapur Rohingya refugee settlement in Chittagong district. They fled to Bangladesh from the Dhuachopara village in the Rachidhong district of Myanmar
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Afghan refugees Afghan children wait for relief supplies from the Muslim Hands United For The Needy during an aid distribution at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul
In pictures: Global refugee crisis Afghan refugees Afghan people carry relief supplies received from the Muslim Hands United For The Needy during an aid distribution at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul
Liesbeth Aelbrecht, Medecins sans Frontieres’ head of mission in Kenya, said the move was another example of the “blatant neglect of millions of refugees” around the world.
Ms Aelbrecht said: "MSF is urging the government to reconsider this call, and – alongside the international organisations already present in the camp – to continue to provide humanitarian assistance and ensure acceptable living conditions for the hundreds of thousands of people who desperately need it."
Somalian refugees queue for tents at Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp (Getty) Human Rights Watch told The Independent there was no “credible evidence” linking Somali refugees to any terrorist attacks in Kenya.
Last year, food rations in the camp were cut due to a lack of funds.
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