UN agency unhappy with refugees order

A United Nations agency on Thursday opposed a government directive that all urban refugees move to camps in Dadaab and Kakuma.

In a statement, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the directive, issued last month, would disrupt the lives of refugees who have settled in Nairobi, Mombasa and other urban areas.

“The UNHCR remains ready to work with the government in ways that, while ensuring that Kenya’s legitimate security concerns are catered for, would preserve the favourable asylum and protection environment which the country has provided over years, including in the urban areas,” it said.

It also raised concern over the arrest and detention of over 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers during counter-terrorism operations targeting undocumented foreigners.

“Most of those arrested are Somalis, 82 of whom were deported to Mogadishu on April 9. While the UNHCR was able to secure the exemption of 10 registered refugees, at least one is reported to have been among those deported,” said the statement.

The agency said that while it had received access to the Safaricom Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi and police cells, it was disturbed by reports of harassment and other abuses.

“The conditions at Kasarani and at the police stations are overcrowded and sanitary conditions are inadequate,” it said.

Meanwhile, mystery surrounds the death of a woman arrested during the operation.

Kenya Airports Police Unit boss Joseph Ole Tito on Thursday said the sick woman, identified as Ms Zainab Mohammed, was taken to Nairobi West Hospital and was later transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital where she died.

KNH management has, however, denied treating the woman nor receiving her body.