Menu
  • home
  • articles
  • asia
  • africa
  • east
  • market
  • contacts
AGENTS & Co

Somalia Asks IGAD Leaders To Help Tackle Refugee Crisis

Posted on 03/25/2017

Somalia’s president on Saturday asked leaders of an African trade bloc to help his country find a durable solution to the Somali refugee crisis, including reintegration of returnees inside the Horn of Africa nation, where a civil conflict is now in its 26th year.

At a special summit in Nairobi on Somali refugees, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, commonly known as Farmajo, said that “about 2½ million Somali refugees and IDPs [internally displaced persons] live in camps in and out of the country. Tragically, some have lived in these camps for three generations, all because the environment wasn’t conducive enough in Somalia for them to return.”

He said many Somalis have voluntarily returned over the past few years, as conditions in their regions have improved gradually, but the president said there are still challenges.

“The current drought and the looming famine pose yet another challenge to voluntary return. We must not leave a stone unturned to avert another famine in Somalia,” he said at the Intergovernmental Authority on Development summit.

Resettlement strategy

Farmajo added that his government has a strategy to deal with the challenges facing the estimated 1.1 million IDPs in the country and the returning refugees once they are back home.

“Our durable solutions strategy calls for land reform, resettlement policies and investment in affordable housing. Taken together, these would facilitate the smooth return and reintegration of refugees and IDPs into their communities,” he said.

The Nairobi summit took place as pressure grows on the Dadaab refugee camp, the biggest in the world, which has hosted hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees for decades and currently holds 249,000.

A joint Somalia-Kenya-UNHCR commission has facilitated the start of a voluntary repatriation project for refugees to return to Somalia, where drought and insecurity are still forcing many people to flee in search of food and water.

A Kenyan court has recently stopped the Kenyan government from closing the Dadaab refugee camp. The court said refugees must not be forced to return until conditions in Somalia improve and allow them to return in dignity.
…

share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

leave a reply Cancel reply

Domain Names, Domains, Hosting

newsline

  • China Seeks Stronger Ties With Sudan Amid Regional, International Tug-of-War 05/30/2023
  • Cholera Catastrophe Looming at Kenya Refugee Camp, Aid Group Warns 05/30/2023
  • Call for Better Mental Health Support for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh, After Cyclone Mocha 05/30/2023

news via email

enter your email address to subscribe and receive news by email

Starting at $9.99/Month
Get 20% off Internet Security Unlimited! Banking, browsing, shopping; extra protection for you.
Copyright © 2023  AGENTS & Co  All Rights Reserved
Support by wPress  •  TrueNet  •  seLLines  •  Купуй!  •  Dmnsa member  •  MeNeedIt