13,800 Somali refugees repatriated from Kenya's Dadaab camp: UNHCR

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says it has repatriated 13,800 Somali refugees as of April 28 from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya since the voluntary program started in December 2014.

According to the UNHCR statement issued on Monday, 7,703 Somali refugees were repatriated between January and April this year.

"Since the repatriation process started in December 2014, 63 road convoys and 75 flights have been organized to Somalia (67 to Mogadishu, four to Kismayu and four to Baidoa)," the statement said.

"During the reporting period (April 16-30), a total of 312 returnees have been assisted to voluntarily return to Somalia by flight," it added.

Out of the 312 people, 159 were retuned to the capital Mogadishu, 76 to Kismayu and 77 to Baidoa.

UNHCR said road convoys were temporarily suspended as rains flooded roads, but flights to Baidoa and Kismayu were underway.

The statement came after the Kenyan government said last week it would close the Dadaab refugee camp by May next year, citing a "very heavy economic, security and environmental burden".

Set up over 20 years ago, Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp in northeast Kenya, hosts nearly 330,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia.

Kenya claims Somalia-based Islamist group Al-Shabaab, which has staged a string of deadly attacks in Kenya in recent years, has hideouts in Dadaab.

It asked UNHCR to close Dadaab last April, days after Al-Shabaab gunmen's massacre of 148 people at Kenya's Garissa University.

UNHCR has repeatedly urged Kenya not to close the camp, but is implementing the voluntary repatriation program, under an agreement signed between Kenya, Somalia and the UN agency. Endit