Kenya urges international community to shoulder refugee burden

Kenya on Saturday urged the international community to help the country to shoulder the burden of hosting refugees.

Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Amina Mohamed told a media briefing that Kenya has a long history of welcoming refugees from all over Africa.

"However the principle of burden sharing in the hosting of refugees is a not a national responsibility but a global responsible in order to ensure that citizens of the world are treated humanely," Mohamed said during African Union Executive Council Retreat.

Her remarks come after the government announced on Friday that it plans to close down its two refugees camps hosting approximately 600,000 refugees.

In 2013, Kenya signed a tripartite agreement with the UN refugee agency and Somalia government on the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees.

The agreement is set to expire in September. Mohamed said that the process has been progressing very slowly. She added that Kenya has maintained the refugee camps for over 25 years.

"We have always said that we will do our part but other nations and organizations should also fulfill the commitments they took upon themselves," she said.

The CS noted that Kenya has always worked with the international community in hosting refugees. "However refugees in Africa always receive less support compared to refugees in other continents," she said.

"This is very painful for us to watch," she added. The East African nation also plans to close its refugee department.

Mohamed said that it costs too much money to run the department. "It requires taxpayers' resources and so even if we had the commitment we won't be able to afford to run the department," she said. Enditem