Thousands of Somali refugees have started returning to their country.
The refugees from Dadaab said they were returning voluntarily following a reduction of food supplies at the camp and resumption of normalcy in parts of their country following the Kenya Defence Forces intervention.
The United Nations, in turn, has scaled down rations at Dadaab refugee camp due to limited resources.
The Nation found some of the refugees arriving on donkey carts at Afmadow in the Jubbaland State after trekking from Dadaab for 12 days.
“We were encouraged to return home after many years due to signs of peace and stability after pacification of parts of Somalia by the KDF,” said Mr Ahmed Jama, who fled to Kenya in 1991 following the fall of dictator Siad Barre.
VOLUNATARY REPATRIATION
However, Mr Jama who left part of his family in Kenya as he monitors the situation in Somalia, said food rations in the camps had reduced since the Kenya Government signed a pact with the UN and Somalia administration for repatriation of refugees.
Most of the asylum seekers interviewed by the Nation said they had been in Kenya for more than 20 years and had made the country their second home.
Afmadow is one of the regions that have been liberated from Al-Shabbab militant group by the KDF under the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).
Last week, Kenya’s ambassador to Somalia Josphat Maikara called on the Somali federal government to hasten the repatriation of the refugees from Kenya.
He said at the Jubbaland presidential palace that the Somali Government ought to abide by the repatriation agreement.
Mr Maikara said Kenya was committed to helping ensure peace and stability in Somalia and called on the international community to support Amisom’s efforts.
Kenyan forces commander in charge of Sector II in Somalia, Brig Walter Raria, said KDF under Amisom controlled 186,000 square kilometres and had liberated 18 towns.
Plans were afoot to liberate other areas still under Al-Shabaab in Jubba valley including Jamaane, Jillib and Barare, the bread basket of Somalia.
Although Al-Shaabab had been routed, they were still able to regroup, Brig Raria said.
The Kenyan Government has been concerned that the refugee camps in northern Kenya were being used to harbour members of the militant group.
Since an attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in September, the government fears that Somali nationals pose a greater security threat and is shielding potential perpetrators of similar atrocities.
More than 500,000 Somali refugees in Kenya are required to return home after the tripartite agreement between the UN and the two governments.
Under the deal, the Somalis will be repatriated voluntarily over the next three years.
However, many are reluctant to return home due to security concerns.
REFUGEE TOWNS
The Somalis have sought refuge in Kenya from war and poverty.
Two of the camps they live in, Dadaab and Kakuma, are now so large they are more like towns.
Eastleigh estate in Nairobi has also been nicknamed “Little Mogadishu” because so many Somalis live there.
The refugees fled Somalia after the collapse of the central government in 1991.
Most of the refugees are however reluctant to return home as they feel the country is not yet safe.
They also think that the Somali government could not provide them with the food, healthcare and education they currently receive in the refugee camps.
Many of the refugees were born in camps and have never set foot inside their country.
A new administration for Jubbaland State was inaugurated last week in a bid by the international community to ensure peace and stability in the whole of Somalia.
Headed by President Madobe, the semi-autonomous State where the Kenya Defense Forces are located under the African Union Mission (AMISOM), has 10 Cabinet ministers.
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