For the first time in history, Somali President Hassan Sheikh and delegates from his government visited the Dadaab Refugee Camp; the largest in the world less than two months after Kenyan government threatened to close the camp.
Somali Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdisalaam Hadliye and Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya, Gamal Hassan together with Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Nkaisary had reached Dadaab camp prior to the arrival of the president.
Mohamud accompanied by other delegates including ministers and humanitarian workers met hundreds of Somali refugees at the camp in northern Kenya which hosts about 500,000 refugees according to UNHCR. Kenyan government said the refugee camp will be closed by November.
Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Nkaisserry said Kenya would work closely with the UN and the Somali government to repatriate the refugees. Kenya says it wants to close the camp over security concerns, saying attacks on its soil have been planned there.
In the early 1990s the Dadaab Refugee Camp became a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing civil war in Somalia. At its peak, Dabaab grew to almost 600,000 people.