Uhuru meets UN Security Council officials over Amisom, Dadaab refugee camp

A funding cut to the peacekeeping mission in Somalia and Kenya’s planned repatriation of Somali refugees topped the agenda when President Uhuru Kenyatta met diplomats from the UN Security Council Friday.

State House says the recent decision by the European Union to cut funding to the African Union Mission to Somalia (Amisom) by 20 per cent adds to financial difficulties threatening the success of the troops in defeating Al-Shabaab militants.

Kenyan troops are part of a group of African force in Somalia tasked with rooting out the terrorists who had taken over large swathes of the country.

“Whereas the continent is footing the bill of stabilising Somalia by blood and flesh, it is disheartening that the international community is even contemplating to reduce support to Amisom,” Manoah Esipisu, the State House spokesman said in a statement.

“Kenya’s decision to close the Dadaab refugee camp was also discussed at length,” he added without indicating if any resolutions were reached.

The Interior ministry has set up a 14–member taskforce to develop a strategy including timelines and costs for the repatriation of more than half-a-million Somali refugees in Kenya.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Kenya to rethink the decision even as the government insists it will go on to close the camp that it says has become a breeding ground for terror merchants, smugglers and drug traffickers.

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The talks also featured discussion on the Gedo region in Somalia which has no Amisom presence and has seen Al-Shabaab establish a safe haven in the area from where they launch attacks on Kenyan troops and people along the common border with Somalia.