NAIROBI, April 30 (Xinhua)-- The UN refugee agency said Monday it has repatriated some 78,661 Somali refugees from Kenya as of March 15 since the voluntary return exercise begun in December 2014.
In its monthly update released in Nairobi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said 75,620 refugees have so far been supported from Dadaab refugee operation in northeast Kenya while the rest were from urban centers.
"Some 2,908 individuals have been assisted to return in 2018 alone, with a majority returning to Kismayu," said the UN agency.
According to UNHCR, 445 refugees comprising of 129 households were assisted to voluntarily repatriate to Somalia on March 1-15, noting that 329 persons travelled by road convoy to Kismayu while 116 travelled by flight to Mogadishu.
Kenya, which hosted protracted negotiations that culminated in the formation of the transitional federal government of Somalia, says the refugee situation continues to pose security threats to Nairobi and the region, in addition to humanitarian consequences.
The east African nation, which has been planning to close the Dadaab refugee camp, has cited the influence of terror group al-Shabab as among the risks of keeping the camps open.
"Towards the end of the reporting period, heavy rains were experienced inside Somalia making roads impassable. UNHCR Somalia requested Dadaab operations to temporarily halt mobilization and facilitation of road convoys until the week of March 19," the UNHCR said.
The agency observed that the number of new registrations per week has fallen significantly, which displays a reduced interest in going back to Somalia.
"Cumulatively there are 16,186 refugees active in UNHCR database in principle willing to return to Somalia," said the UNHCR.
An estimated 2 million Somalis have been displaced, 1.1 million internally, in one of the world's most protracted humanitarian crises that have now entered its third decade.
