UNHCR says 30,000 refugees have returned to Somalia in 2013
Refugees at the Daadab camp in Kenya. About 30,000 people have crossed from Kenya and Ethiopia to Somalia this year with some 2,100 movements recorded in September, the UN refugee agency has said. FILE
About 30,000 people have crossed from Kenya and Ethiopia to Somalia this year with some 2,100 movements recorded in September, the UN refugee agency has said.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) population movement tracking, the returns were made possible by humanitarian partners.
"Many of these movements are seasonal or temporary and no permanent refugee returns as the situation remains fragile and conditions for large-scale return are not yet in place," UNHCR said in a report published by the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA on Friday.
Kenya hosts an estimated 650,000 refugees from the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region. Somali refugees in Kenya are estimated at 500,000 and the number has increased due to turmoil and recurrent droughts in the horn of Africa state.
Kenya has expressed optimism that the conference which had been planned to take place in August but postponed would have provided a launching pad for safe and dignified repatriation of Somali refugees.
OPPOSE REFUGEE REPATRIATION
Kenyan officials have blamed cartels engaged in human trafficking of having opposed to the repatriation for selfish interests, adding that both Kenya and Somalia have agreed on border security issues.
An estimated 6,000 displaced families are expected to complete the ongoing registration and returns process and to return to their areas of origin during the short Deyr rainy seasons from October to December.
"During the main rainy seasons from April to June, more than 1, 700 displaced households were assisted to return to their areas of origin," it said.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku said last month that records from the department of refugees at largest refugee camp in Dadaab indicate that some families have already relocated and resettled in various parts of Somalia.
"Out of the normalcy returning thousands Somalia nationals through voluntary action have gone back to their country, an indication that the peaceful situation in Somalia is working well for the country," Lenku said.
He said the government will not relent on its plans to repatriate more than half a million Somalia nationals who had arrived in the Country as a result of conflict in Somalia.
With parts of Somalia showing signs of increasing stability, countries hosting Somali refugees are considering the potential to encourage them to return, while some Somalis have spontaneously decided to move back to areas under government control. (Xinhua)
