An unidentified severely malnourished Somali refugee child rests inside a ward at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital at the Dagahale refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, July 28, 2011. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
An unidentified severely malnourished Somali refugee child rests inside a ward at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital at the Dagahale refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, July 28, 2011. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – More than eight out of 10 Somalis living in the world’s largest refugee camp, which Kenya plans to close by November, are unwilling to return home, fearing rape, forced recruitment into militias and lack of medical care, a charity said on Wednesday.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the return to Somalia of some 300,000 refugees living in Dadaab camp would be disastrous for their health, putting them at risk of malnutrition and infectious diseases like polio.
“Hundreds of thousands of lives will be put at risk,” MSF said in a report sent to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Extreme levels of insecurity and a dangerous absence of medical care mean that the conditions necessary for a safe and dignified return are simply not present in many parts of Somalia today.”
Kenya hosts the largest population of Somali refugees who have fled a 25-year-old civil war in the Horn of Africa country, according to the United Nations.
Kenya and the UN have said returns are being conducted on a voluntarily basis, with refugees being taken to designated safe areas.
They have appealed to donors for funding to provide better health and education services in Somalia.
Kenya says it has to close Dadaab for its own security as the camp has been infiltrated by “terrorist cells” which have carried out deadly attacks on Kenyan soil.