CS Joseph ole Lenku cautions Kenyans against hosting illegal aliens as 200 are transferred to camps

By CYRUS OMBATI

NAIROBI, KENYA: Some 281 refugees have so far been taken back to their camps from Nairobi since Thursday, the government has said.

The first group of 111 refugees was transported out of the Safaricom Stadium in Kasarani on Thursday evening in four buses to the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps.

The second group comprising of 170 refugees left Nairobi from on Friday evening in six buses, the Ministry of Interior and National Coordination spokesman Mwenda Njoka said in a statement.

He added this was in line with government policy to have refugees settled only in gazette refugee camps.

The refugees who were netted during the ongoing security operation in Nairobi and screened at the stadium. The operation started on April 1.

“The first group of 111 refugees was transported from Kasarani Sports Ground on Thursday evening in a ceremony witnessed by Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government Mr Joseph Ole Lenku,” a statement said.

More refugees were to leave Saturday.

Lenku said the directive requiring refugees to be settled strictly in gazetted refugee camps issued on March 25 conforms to local and international laws governing refugee affairs still stands.

This is as   per   Section   16(2)   of   the   Refugee   Act   2006   and   Article   2

of  the  1951  Geneva   Convention.

 “Every refugee has duties to the country in which he finds himself and which require in particular that he conform to its laws and regulations as well as to measures taken for the maintenance of public order.”

Njoka said contrary to the perception created in some quarters, the directive was not targeting particular groups of refugees but all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya.

Kenya hosts more than 600,000 refugees and asylum seekers from over 11 countries.

The move came hours after 91 more illegal aliens were deported to Somalia after they were found to be in Kenya illegally in the ongoing security operation.

They are part of the 225 illegal aliens slated for deportation. Officials said the 91 were deported from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Thursday afternoon.

“We plan to deport more as soon as there is space in these planes,” said police boss David Kimaiyo.

The government said 412 people will be repatriated to their designated refugee camps after they were found to have left there.

The refugees include 406 Somalis, two Ethiopians, one Congolese, two Ugandans and one Sudanese.

Of the 225 to be deported 214 are Somalis, six Ethiopians, two Ugandans, and one from Cameroon, Tanzania and South Sudan.

Kimaiyo said 1,136 people from 14 different countries have been screened at the Kasarani Stadium since the Operation Usalama Watch started on April 1.

Of these, 313 including 127 Kenyans, 120 Somalis, 50 Ethiopians, two Rwandese, four Tanzanians, three Ugandans and one German and American were taken to court and charged with various offences.

Those screened were 247 Kenyans, 782 Somalis, 68 Ethiopians and 14 Tanzanians, five Rwandese, three Congolese and nine Ugandans.

“The government policy is that all illegal aliens must be deported to their countries of origin. In this regard, the process of deporting 225 people is ongoing,” said Kimaiyo.

The victims were arrested in the operation in Nairobi alone. Police arrested more than 5,000 but released some before taking others to Kasarani, which is a screening centre but has been gazetted as a police station.

He said the operation will continue and has so far spread to other parts of the country including Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Nyeri.

The police boss said lack of political support from some people has affected the operation but vowed to continue with it because it is aimed at making the country safer.

He said he had met a group of leaders from the Somali community in Kenya at State House on Wednesday and convinced them on the need to support the operation.

“We told them the operation is purely aimed at ensuring Kenya is safe. There is no country that agrees to have illegal aliens. They were informed the US has deported more than two million illegal immigrants in the last five years alone for the sake of its security,” said Kimaiyo.

The leaders met president Kenyatta to complain about the operation which they termed as discriminatory.

Most of those in custody were individuals who are in the country illegally without valid documents, those who were outside the precincts of legally gazetted areas and those who had unauthenticated documents.

The Government says the operation targets all illegal aliens, arrest and prosecute persons suspected of engaging in terrorist activities, identify places harbouring criminals and contain and prevent general acts of crime and lawlessness.

Kimaiyo said they are paying attention to documents that the suspects produce to justify their nationality which include IDs, passports, visa and work permits and refugee cards which can be manipulated by unscrupulous people.

He said he is aware many illegal immigrants have moved from Nairobi to other towns but said their days are numbered.

The Department of Refugee Affairs in Nairobi ordered all 600,000 refugees and asylum seekers to go back to their designated camps in Kakuma and Daadab.

The directive follows numerous cases of insecurity around the country and a major crackdown on suspected terrorists.