Somali refugees in Kenya

DW: Are conditions favorable for the peaceful return of refugees from Kenya to Somalia?

Annette Weber: It is a voluntary return, it will be up to the Somali refugees to decide if they really want to go back. My reading is that there are not many areas in Somalia which Somali nationals living outside the country consider safe. I think there is a lot of hope on the Kenyan side that they can somehow "push" people back, but I don't see conditions in Somalia as being right to receive people.

So this is not a voluntary repatriation but a forced repatriation?

This is where one has to follow the process very closely – it is a process facilitated by the UNHCR (UN refugee agency). It is also part of their responsibility. There is a repatriation commission – the repatriation shall take place over the next three years. People shall be accompanied during repatriation and it should be voluntary. So if we stick to this this, only people who want to return will be facilitated. I don't think anybody has a problem with this. You don't actually need an agreement because people can always return to their home country. It could, however, be risky if it turns from a voluntary repatriation to a forced one.

Kenya claims that the influx and the number of refugees poses a security risk, or challenge, to the country. How would this repatriation of refugees improve Kenyan security?

We all know that the influx of refugees, the presence of Somali refugees in Kenya, is nothing new. The majority of refugees from Dadaab camp, or in Kakuma camp, which is way older, are vulnerable refugees, so I am not too sure where the link to the security threat comes in. You'll remember that back in December 2012 the Kenyan government issued a directive that every Somalia refugee should be moved to a camp. That was contested, there was opposition, and basically the Kenyans had to withdraw this directive, saying it was arbitrary and it could not be used. To me, it sounds very political to argue that these people, the vulnerable refugees in the camps, are now a security threat.

Annette Weber heads the research group on the Middle East and Africa at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin.

Interviewer: Chrispin Mwakideu