EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides addresses Somali refugees preparing to return home from Dadaab refugee camp in a voluntary repatriation programme, in Kenya.
Kenya must end its "dogged determination" to close Dadaab refugee camp and help refugees integrate into local communities, Amnesty International has said.
Muthoni Wanyeki, AI's regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, on Wednesday dismissed the government's extension of the repatriation by six months.
“While we welcome the Cabinet Secretary’s pledge that repatriations will be carried out in a humane, dignified manner, the announcement is not a change in policy," said Wanyeki.
"Thousands of refugees remain at risk of forced repatriation to a war-torn country where they risk death or injury in the ongoing conflict."
The government had affirmed that the camp will be closed for security and economic reasons and set November 30 as the deadline. The decision to send more than 300,000 refugees back home was made in May.
But Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery said on Wednesday that the date was pushed following a request last week by a special UNHCR envoy on the Somali situation.
He said the extension gives the international community time to ensure refugees return to a safe place.
Wanyeki said the refugees should not return to Somalia against their will, in contravention of international law.
She said the exercise must be carried out with donor support, and that sustainable long-term solutions, including their integration into local communities, should be embraced.
The regional director called on the international community to share the refugee burden with the government by providing more resettlement areas.
The rights group released a report on Tuesday detailing "evidence" that refugees at the world’s largest camp were being coerced to leave.
The London-based rights group said government officials had been threatening refugees to return to Somalia by the November deadline.
Nkaissery denied the claim that Kenya was bullying refugees saying the process is “humane, safe and dignified”.
He said 262,000 refugees remain at the camp and that 16,000 have been repatriated over the last six months.
The CS pledged to abide by international law during the six-month resettlement of refugees to Somalia or to a third country, but stuck to plans to close the camp.
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