The Kenyan government will convert its Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, where the majority of asylum-seekers reside, into integrated settlements, where refugees will coexist with their host communities, Kenya's Ministry of Interior and National Administration said in a statement.
In order to adjust the transition plan to the country's national security priorities, an intergovernmental steering committee was set up, the ministry revealed.
According to Kenya's Interior Principal Secretary (PS) Raymond Omollo, these core security issues of the committee, which will be coordinated by Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki, include beefing up border controls, inspections to prevent the influx of new refugees and ensuring law and order in resettlement areas.
Omollo also cautioned that the resettlement plan needs to be carried out carefully to weed out criminals seeking ways to sneak into the country.
"We need to be sensitive in ensuring that the design and implementation of this plan does not become a pull factor of asylum seekers and refugees within the region," the official said.
His remarks come on the heels of the government's earlier plans to close the camps in 2021, which the authorities say have become avenues for gun-running and smuggling of contraband from Somalia as well as breeding grounds for terrorists.
Local intelligence reports confirmed that numerous attacks in 2013, 2015 and 2019 were planned and executed from the Dadaab camp.
Turkana County (Northwest of the country) has already turned Kakuma into a municipality, and Garissa County (Center-east of the country) Governor Nathif Jama Adam has confirmed that he will soon sign the charter of the municipality for Dadaab.
Earlier in 2021, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Kenya to relax its planned closures of refugee camps, though Washington has promised increased funding to help those fleeing danger in the region.