UN Begins Sorting False From Genuine Refugees In Dadaab

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UN Begins Sorting False From Genuine Refugees In Dadaab

The United Nations on Monday launched a "verification exercise" to determine how many residents of the Dadaab complex are actually Kenya citizens posing as Somali refugees.

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The United Nations on Monday launched a "verification exercise" to determine how many residents of the Dadaab complex are actually Kenya citizens posing as Somali refugees.

"We are aware of Kenyans falsely registering as refugees in order to get free services and food,” UN refugee agency spokesman Duke Mwancha told theNation.

The UN currently has no estimate of the size of this segment of Dadaab's population of 340,000.

But Mr Mwancha says his agency is aiming to specify within two months the number of Kenyans living in the camps under false pretences.

This effort to compile a "clean register” is part of a recent agreement involving the UN and the governments of Kenya and Somalia to facilitate the return of 150,000 Somalis to their homeland by the end of the year.

The three parties have also agreed that refugees from countries other than Somalia will be moved from Dadaab to the Kakuma camps.

About 16,000 refugees — mainly from Ethiopia — are expected to make that 1,200-kilometre journey from Garissa County to Turkana County.

Some Somalis have recently left Dadaab under circumstances that may not qualify as voluntary, says Ben Rawlence, author of a recently published book describing the lives of nine residents of the complex.