Thursday, June 23, 2016
By REUTERS and STAR REPORTER
U.S. President Barack Obama (R) walks with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta as he departs for Ethiopia aboard Air Force One from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi July 26, 2015.
REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST
US President Barack Obama spoke by telephone on Thursday with President Uhuru Kenyatta about the need for strong international support for refugees living in the East African country, the White House said.
Obama and Uhuru "agreed that the United States and Kenya would work closely together on this issue, to better ensure that the needs of refugees and host communities are met," the White House said in a statement.
Kenya intends to repatriate more than 600,000 refugees living in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps by May 2017.
During the World Humanitarian Summit in Turkey in May, Deputy President William Ruto told the International Community to support its move to close the Dadaab refugee camp and channel finances in resettling the refugees back to Somalia.
In the same month, Uhuru also held a meeting with members of the United Nations Security Council.
He reiterated that Kenya has already made a decision based on "national interests". He and the diplomats from the 15–member Security Council held lengthy discussions on the situation in Somalia.
Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery issued a statement in early May saying that closure of the refugee camps was due to growing insecurity.
“There comes a time when we must think primarily about the security of our people. Our national security organs have observed that terrorists group, such as ISIS, are looking to make inroads into our region,” he said.