Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

top

Kenya

Amina: UN Chief backs Dadaab move, to push for AMISOM funding

Mohamed said the UN Secretary General who met with President Kenyatta in Brussels on Wednesday/PSCU

Mohamed said the UN Secretary General who met with President Kenyatta in Brussels on Wednesday/PSCU

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Jun 15 – Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed on Wednesday said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was on-board with the closure of Dadaab camp by November.

Mohamed said the UN Secretary General who met with President Kenyatta in Brussels on Wednesday, understood the refugee burden Kenya had been carrying since Somalia descended into civil war at the start of the 1990s and his only reservation was that the exercise be carried out humanely.

“He obviously agrees that Dadaab has been in place for a very long time. The only obviously issue for the UN has been that the repatriation has to be done in a dignified manner and he was given assurances that, that would happen,” she said.

READ: UN chief asks Kenya to reconsider decision to bar Somali refugees

On the subject of AMISOM troops in Somalia, Mohamed said Ban committed to pushing for its elevation to a UN Mission, with the Security Council.

“He cannot do anything by himself, he needs to bring this back to the Security Council members and especially the P5 members and ask for support for them so it’s something that he’s going to take up actively when he gets back to New York.”

President Kenyatta and Ban held their talks on the sidelines of the opening of the 10th edition of the European Development Days in Brussels at which the former gave the keynote address.

READ: Uhuru to discuss AMISOM funding, Dadaab closure with UN chief

Still on the sidelines of the EDD forum, President Kenyatta also held talks with Word Bank Chief Jim Yong Kim who will also be in Kenya in August for TICAD.

And prior to Ban’s attendance of the 14th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development next month, Mohamed said, UN High Commissioner on Refugees Filippo Grandi would return to Kenya to firm up the details of how the closure of Dadaab will be undertaken.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“We also informed the Secretary General that the High Commissioner will be coming back to Nairobi by the end of this month so that we can in a very concrete way now start discussing everything including the timeframes and preparations that need to be put in place in Somalia itself before the repatriation begins in earnest.”

“So it’s an issue that is now firmly, entrenched in the international psyche.”

About The Author

Comments
Advertisement

More on Capital News