(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday pledged to step up assistance to Somali refugees in Kenya, saying that a major refugee camp in northern Kenya would remain open for the time being.
"Kenya needs international assistance on hosting refugees," Kerry told a press conference held in Nairobi.
"Thousands of them [refugees] have fled from war in their country," he said, calling on international donors to provide them with aid.
"Today I held talks with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; the US will give the UNHCR $45 million to help in providing better schools, food, health facilities and a safe haven for refugees," Kerry declared.
He said he had spoken with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and that the two had agreed that Kenya's Dadaab camp would remain open for now.
"The camp will remain open as we finish our job in Somalia," Kerry asserted.
Washington's top diplomat said refugee camps were supposed to be temporary € not permanent cities in some other country.
"We agreed that we should come up with a plan so that people in the camps can return home safely and to a safe place," he said.
Kenya had threatened to close Dadaab € the world's largest refugee camp € after gunmen stormed a university in early April and killed 148 people.
Kenyan authorities recently agreed with the Somali government and the UNHCR to expedite the repatriation of Somali refugees in Kenya.
According to UNHCR figures, there are 423,153 registered Somali refugees in Kenya, including 335,565 in the northern Dadaab camp alone.
There are also 55,432 registered Somali refugees in the Kakuma camp and 32,156 in capital Nairobi.
Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto said last month that his country had given the UNHCR three months to move Somali refugees from the Dadaab camp to areas inside Somalia.
One year ago, Kenya, Somalia and the UNHCR signed an agreement calling for the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees.
In the past, Nairobi has claimed that Somalia's Al-Shabaab militant group was using the Dadaab camp as a launch pad for staging attacks inside Kenya.
At least 148 people, mostly students, were killed on April 2 following a 14-hour hostage crisis € for which Al-Shabaab later claimed responsibility € at a university in northern Kenya.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab group has vowed to carry out attacks in Kenya as long as the country keeps troops in neighboring Somalia.
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