UN urges Kenya to reconsider decision on refugee camp

The United Nations refugee agency urged Kenya on Tuesday to reconsider an order to close the teeming Dadaab refugee camp, warning that sending Somali refugees back to their homeland would have “extreme humanitarian and practical consequences”.
Kenya said on Saturday it had given the United Nations three months to remove the camp housing hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees, as part of a get-tough response to the killing of 148 people by Somali gunmen at a Kenyan university.
The UNHCR said it was ready to work with Kenyan authorities to “strengthen law enforcement” at Dadaab to help protect refugees and Kenyans against possible intrusion by armed groups.
“We are thus urging the Kenyan authorities to give the matter further consideration,” it said.