Majority of Somali refugees in Dadaab 'unwilling' to return, medical charity MSF says

Tents fill the outskirts of the Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab in northeastern Kenya. FILE PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Many refugees surveyed cited by the charity list their main concerns as fear of forced recruitment into armed groups and the threat of sexual violence.
  • Other concerns are the absence of healthcare in Somalia, the medical aid group, known by its French acronym MSF, reported.
  • Doctors Without Borders is also calling for increased assistance for Kenya's efforts to manage a refugee population that has grown significantly since the outbreak of fighting in Somalia in 1991.

Medical charity group Doctors Without Borders says a vast majority of refugees do not want to go back to Somalia.

The group says Kenya should therefore consider alternatives to closing down the Dadaab camp.

Many refugees surveyed cited by the charity list their main concerns as fear of forced recruitment into armed groups and the threat of sexual violence.

Other concerns are the absence of healthcare in Somalia, the medical aid group, known by its French acronym MSF, reported.

MSF said its findings raise doubts about the voluntary nature of the repatriation programme being carried out by the Kenyan government and the United Nations refugee agency.

“It is unacceptable that, without any other solution being offered, thousands are essentially being pushed back into conflict and acute crisis — the very conditions they fled,” said Liesbeth Aelbrecht, the head of the MSF mission in Kenya.

“The UN itself has recently declared that five million are at risk of hunger inside Somalia,” said Bruno Jochum, MSF general director.

“Sending back even more people to suffer is both inhumane and irresponsible.”

As an alternative to emptying Dadaab, the group is suggesting the establishment of smaller camps inside Kenya, increased resettlement of refugees to third countries and integration of camp residents into Kenyan communities.

Doctors Without Borders is also calling for increased assistance for Kenya's efforts to manage a refugee population that has grown significantly since the outbreak of fighting in Somalia in 1991.

“Kenya should not shoulder this burden alone,” Ms Aelbrecht said.

“Funding from donor countries needs to be directed to providing sustained assistance in the country of refuge, not to supporting what will essentially be a forced return to a warzone.”

'DADAAB TO SOMALIA'

The report Dadaab to Somalia: Pushed back into Peril says an “overwhelming” number of people interviewed by MSF staff said they wouldn’t return to Somalia, yet, because they feared losing out on services offered to them at Dadaab.

The group says it sampled 838 in the months of July and August this year to seek their views on the planned closure of the camp and their repatriation to Somalia.

MSF says as many as eight in every 10 feared they will be cut from treatment for various health problems, and nearly all of them said there was no security in Somalia, even though Dadaab itself has been insecure for the past four years now.

It says 86 per cent stated that neither they nor anyone in their household intended to move to Somalia.

“Out of an additional 106 people we spoke to during in-depth interviews, all but two were adamant that they did not want to return to Somalia and were not considering voluntary repatriation.

“It will escalate their vulnerability to malnutrition, weakening their immune systems and making them vulnerable to infectious diseases.

“What is clear is that returning to Somalia now will have disastrous consequences on people’s health,” the MSF head of mission in Kenya argued.

The findings contradict a recent report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that claimed more refugees have expressed a willingness to go back to Somalia.

SIGNIFICANT MOMENTUM

“The return of Somali refugees from Dadaab camps gained significant momentum as many refugees are reported to be registering for repatriation across the camps.

“UNHCR and its repatriation partners are working to reinforce their capacity to be able to respond to the high number of refugees willing to return," the UN agency said in a bulletin dated September 1-15 this year.

MSF’s findings, however, agree with what the Norwegian Refugee Council reported on Tuesday this week.

In a report titled Dadaab’s Broken Promise¸ the Norwegian charity argued the planned voluntary repatriation does not meet international standards because refugees were being compelled to leave.

And an earlier study by Human Rights Watch claimed that the UNHCR was not giving sufficient information to refugees to decide whether to return or stay. The UN denied this charge.

The Dadaab camps have been the subject of a sustained campaign by the government to close it down under suspicions that it could be acting as a conduit for terror merchants and smuggling syndicates.

In 2013, Kenya, Somalia and the UNHCR signed a tripartite agreement to get Somali refugees relocated by the end of 2016.

Since December 2014, 30,349 refugees have been taken back to Somalia and resettled through this programme, with 24,248 going back this year.

In August, the UNHCR’s road convoys were suspended after the Jubaland administration asked to delay repatriation to address integration programmes in Somalia.

The Dadaab complex currently hosts 276,945 Somali refugees scattered in its five sub-camps of Hagdera, Dagahaley, Ifo 1, Ifo 2 and Kambios.

In May, citing terrorism threats and environmental damage, Kenya announced an ambitious plan by allocating Sh1 billion to close down the camp.