Kenya tells longtime refugees living in camps to go home

DADAAB REFUGEE CAMP, Kenya — Standing inside his clothing shop in this dusty, sprawling settlement of 330,000  people, Deq Yussuf smiles politely even though he's angry.

Yussuf, who has lived here most of his life, has to leave by November because Kenya is shutting all its refugee camps, displacing 600,000 people. The government said the camps have become infiltrated by terrorists

“I would rather die here than leave this place,” vowed Yusuf, 30, a father of two. “I have never known any other place apart from this refugee camp. I came here when I was 5 years old.”

Yussuf lives in Ifo camp, one of five that make up Dadaab in eastern Kenya near the Somali border — the largest refugee complex in the world. Ifo looks like a rural village, with goats and camels wandering around small shops that sell everything from clothes to camel milk.

He arrived at the camp in 1991 with his father from Bardera, Somalia, when the civil war that ousted Somali President Siad Barre broke out. He had no idea the camp would remain his home.

Now the Kenya government wants to repatriate Dadaab refugees to Somalia. The government also wants to close another camp, Kakuma, that houses refugees from South Sudan, where a fragile cease-fire has taken hold in that country’s civil war.

Yussuf has never left Dadaab. Kenya restricts the movement of refugees. If caught outside the camp without a pass, they risk arrest, detention and expulsion.

“When I hear news about the repatriation of refugees I don’t sleep. I cry throughout the night because I have nowhere to go,” he said. “This is my home, the only home I know.”

Kenya announced in May that it would will shutter the camps by November and send refugees back to Somalia and elsewhere after numerous attacks staged by al-Shabab, a Somalia terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda.

Kenya to close all refugee camps, displacing 600,000

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the January attack on the resort island of Lamu that killed 29 people, as well as last year's attack at Garissa University College that killed 147, mostly students, and the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi in 2013 that killed 67 people.

Al-Shabab militants also attacked Kenyan peacekeeping troops in Somalia, where the central government in Mogadishu is weak. Al-Shabab, hoping to establish a radical Islamic theocracy, claims it wants Kenyan forces to leave Somalia.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery said Kenyan security forces have thwarted numerous al-Shabab terrorism attempts over the years by arresting terror suspects at the Dadaab refugee complex and recovering caches of arms there.

“Key terror attacks in the country like Westgate, Lamu and Garissa University College that claimed hundreds of lives were planned and executed at the camp,” Nkaissery said.

He noted that the Islamic State could also be making inroads into Somalia. He did not want that group to also establish a base in Dadaab.

“The hosting of refugees has been costly for Kenya," he said. "As a country we have been glad to help our neighbors and all those in need, sometimes at the expense of our security. There comes a time when we must think primarily about the security of our people.”

Dadaab and Kakuma are also hotbeds for poaching, human trafficking, illegal arms sales and other criminal activities, he added.

But refugees at the camp say the government is punishing them for the mistakes of others.

“We wouldn't destroy a country which has accepted to accommodate us for that long,” said Nasra Mohammed, a mother of 10, and one of the first to arrive from Somalia's civil war in 1991. “There are a few terrorists in the camp who want to destroy our lives. Not everyone here supports terrorism — we hate them. The government should arrest them and allow us to stay.”

Others said they could not afford to leave the camp.

“Life is better in the camp than Somalia,” said Abdirashid Sheikh Noor, a father of seven who escaped with his family in 2012, after al-Shabab captured his town of Buale, Somalia. “There’s peace here. I can’t go back to Somalia, because then I will be seeking out death."

"Kenya has no reason to repatriate us," he added. "If they feel there are terrorists here, then they should arrest them. We urge the international community to intervene and help us."

The United States has  joined the United Nations and human rights groups in urging Kenya to rescind its decision to shut down the refugee camps.

Meanwhile, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights urged the international community to help Kenya shoulder the burden of hosting the refugees to avoid closing the camps.

"The government should find an alternative way to deal with the issue,” said George Morara, the commission's vice chairman.

For Yussuf, returning to Somalia is not an option. He has no family there. He’s not even sure where his relatives are or whether they are still alive.

“I don’t want to return to Somalia,” he said.

Onyulo reported from Nairobi, Kenya.