Threat to refugee camp that is a ‘terrorist breeding ground’

The Kenyan Government has threatened to close the world’s biggest refugee camp, unless the UN moves its 500,000 occupants to neighbouring Somalia, the refugees’ country of origin.

Al-Shabaab terrorists are widely believed to use Dadaab camp as a “breeding ground” for recruits. On 2 April they murdered 148 people, nearly all Christian students, at nearby Garissa University. On 11 April, deputy president William Ruto said the Government had given the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) three months to relocate Dadaab refugees.

Catholic clergy in the region said they had received numerous reports that the Islamists were radicalising and recruiting from the camp. “[Recruitment] has spread beyond the camp to the nearby town and villages,” Fr Alfred Muriithi, a priest in northern Kenya, told The Tablet.

Bishop Paul Darmanin of Garissa said the camp should be closed and the people allowed to return home. “The people in the camps cannot report dangerous criminals among them because they are family. The closure … will reduce channels for recruitment and planning of attacks,” he said.

UNHCR spokeswoman Karin de Gruijl said the agency was ready to work with Kenya to stop “armed actors” entering the camp.