Somali president says to receive refugees from Kenya's Dadaab camp

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has said his country is ready to receive Somali refugees who will be repatriated from Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp later this year.

After his talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi Wednesday, President Mohamud told a joint news conference that his government had put in place necessary infrastructure to accommodate the more than 300,000 Somali refugees currently living in Dadaab.

Dadaab is the world's largest refugee camp. It was set up more than two decades ago to house people fleeing conflict in Somalia.

Kenya recently announced it will close Daddab and repatriate all refugees living in it by December, citing a "very heavy economic, security and environmental burden".

The two leaders called upon the international community to back the repatriation process by providing adequate support to the Somali government for the receiving of the returnees.

"The two leaders committed to working jointly on the orderly, humane and dignified repatriation of the Somali refugees" under a tripartite agreement signed by Somalia, Kenya and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), said a joint statement issued after the talks.

The Somali president said refugees who will be repatriated from Kenya had already picked the places where they want to be resettled and thanked Kenya for hosting Somali refugees for over 20 years.

Mohamud visited Dadaab on Monday where he told the refugees that the Somali government was committed to receiving them back home.

He assured the refugees that the repatriation will be orderly, humane and dignified.

Kenya claims Somalia-based Islamist group Al-Shabaab, which has staged bloody attacks in Kenya in recent years, has hideouts in Dadaab. Endit