UN assists Kenya in repatriation for Somali refugees

Global Business

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Residents of the world’s largest refugee camp are preparing to go home. Kenya is shutting down the Dadaab camp, in the country’s far north-east. Home to almost 300,000 Somalis, however, it was considered too expensive and risky by Kenya. So what awaits the Dadaab refugees back in Somalia?

CCTV’s Abdulaziz Billow has more. Follow Abdulaziz Billow Ali on Twitter @AbdulBillowAli

Ahmed Abdi Mukhtar should be in school, but he is supporting his family – by sewing clothes.

Until recently he lived in Dadaab, the sprawling refugee camp over the border in Kenya. Ten days ago, he came back to Somalia with his mother and eight siblings. They now live in a temporary camp.

The 14-year-old Ahmed has all but given up on completing his education, and he is only among thousands who have come back from Dadaab this year.

UN officials are working with Kenyan and local authorities to help the repatriation. But coping with so many coming back in such a short period is straining already thin resources.

And this is just the start of the repatriation, for Kenya wants Dadaab shut in a few months.

If the shutdown does go ahead, hundreds of thousands more will be coming back,and very little hope awaits them here.


Kyeretwie Akwasi Osei, Citizens and Diaspora directorate for the African Union on the refugee crisis in Africa

It’s not just Somalia but the entire continent of Africa that is dealing with a refugee crisis.

CCTV’s Girum Chala in Ethiopia spoke to the head of the African Union’s Citizens and Diaspora directorate,Kyeretwie Akwasi Osei, to discuss the crisis and possible solutions.


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