Nairobi: The UN refugee agency said it will voluntarily repatriate 100 Somali refugees living in Dadaab camp in northern Kenya Monday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a weekly report published Saturday that preparations for the assistance for voluntary return to Somalia are going on.
“The first movement of up to 100 persons is planned to take place Dec 8 from Dagahaley camp,” Xinhua quoted the UN refugee agency statement as saying.
The East African nation hosts more than 600,000 refugees from 36 nationalities who flee conflict from the Horn of Africa, which includes Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia, and the Great Lakes region.
Somali refugees in Kenya are estimated at 500,000 and the number has increased due to turmoil and recurrent droughts in the Horn of Africa state.
The planned repatriation of the refugees follows a tripartite agreement which was signed by Kenya, Somalia and UNHCR in 2013 that establishes a legal framework and other support for Somali refugees in Kenya.