PM Odinga urges refugees to wait end of war

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Friday urged Somali refugees in the country to wait until the war against Al-Shabaab is won before returning home.

Mr Odinga said a guarantee of peace and stability in Somalia would be the best way of encouraging refugees to go back home.

Mr Odinga reckoned that while there had been significant rainfall to warrant refugees in Kenya to go back home, there is still insufficient security for them to make any meaningful use of the rain.

“The situation is very different on the other side of Somalia and people have not taken advantage of rainfall. We would only stop the tide of refugees running away from Somalia as long as there is an assurance of continuous supply of food,” said Mr Odinga.

PM Odinga called on the international community to help African forces quash the militant group Al-Shabaab.

“We all want a stable and peaceful Somalia devoid of insecurity, piracy, terrorists among other ills. We have agreed to jointly call on the international community to support the ongoing efforts (to bring peace in Somalia),” he told journalists after a meeting with Danish Minister for International Development Christian Bach.

Most of the refugees in Kenya’s Dadaab Camp came last year following a severe famine in Somalia.

On Friday, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said famine in Somalia has eased, although it warned the humanitarian crisis was far from over.

Mr Bach said his government would be channelling close to Sh6 billion to support the forces in Somalia.

There are more than 630,000 refugees in the Dadaab camp making it the largest concentration of refugees.