Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 20 december 2017
UN refugee chief urges the world to spend more on Africa

By BEN CURTIS line” to return to Somalia.
Associated PressDADAAB, Kenya was the last leg of
Kenya (AP) — The world a trip during which Grandi
must do more to help mil- also visited Djibouti and So-
lions of refugees across malia. He said he met some
sub-Saharan Africa, which former refugees who have
hosts more than a quarter happily settled in Somalia
of the world’s refugees, the and others who face chal-
United Nations said Tues- lenges and need help. Re-
day. turning home is a “difficult,
U.N. refugee chief Filippo brave choice” as Somalia
Grandi spoke to reporters remains fragile, he said on
while visiting what until re- Twitter.
cently was the world’s larg- Some parts of Somalia are
est refugee camp, Dada- witnessing drought condi-
ab, in Kenya. tions, and the al-Qaida-
“You know, it is very difficult linked al-Shabab frequently
to fund programs in Africa. I carries out deadly attacks,
am not ashamed to say it,” especially in the capital,
Grandi said, adding that he Mogadishu. A truck bomb-
fights “all the time” for more ing in October killed 512
aid. Some of the world’s people. “We will need to
poorest countries, includ- Ahmed Hussen, center, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship who was born be strong and continue to
ing Uganda and Ethiopia, and raised in Somalia and immigrated to Canada in 1993, arrives with U.N. refugee chief Filippo help Somalia be strong, so
host hundreds of thousands Grandi, right, for a visit to Dadaab refugee camp, which currently hosts over 230,000 inhabitants, that also conditions will be
of refugees from South Su- in northern Kenya Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017. in place better for people
dan and elsewhere. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) to come back,” Grandi
Kenya’s government wants argued that the sprawling 32,000 Somalis have re- the cut in rations by 30 per- said. “At the moment, in
Dadaab, which hosts over camp near the border with turned home this year from cent in October. many areas there is a lot of
230,000 inhabitants, shut Somalia has been used as camps in Kenya under a While touring Dadaab, insecurity, there is drought,
down, but the U.N. is urging a recruiting ground for the voluntary repatriation pro- Grandi spoke to about 20 there is other difficulties,
patience and says all repa- Islamic extremist group al- gram. Human rights groups families of Somali refugees lack of infrastructure.”
triations must be voluntary. Shabab and a base for have raised concerns who are set to return home. Many refugees he spoke to
A Kenyan court ruled in launching attacks inside about refugees being pres- The U.N. refugee agency said they would not return
February that the govern- Kenya. But Kenyan officials sured to leave, either by says about 19,000 refugees home if the situation does
ment must not close Dada- have not provided conclu- Kenyan authorities or by in Dadaab are “in the pipe- not improve, he said.q
ab to refugees. sive proof of that. Amid North Korea threat:
Some Kenyan officials have The U.N. says more than
Japan approves missile defense system

By MARI YAMAGUCHI to growing defense costs actions, against the North.
Associated Press in Japan as Prime Minister Abe has vowed to bolster
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Shinzo Abe’s government Japan’s security coopera-
Cabinet on Tuesday ap- pushes to allow the military tion and increase use of
proved a plan to purchase a greater international role advanced U.S. missile de-
a set of costly land-based and boost its missile com- fense equipment.
U.S. missile combat systems bat capability. Defense officials declined
to increase the country’s Defense officials say two to give details about po-
defense capabilities amid Aegis Ashore units can cov- tential sites for Aegis Ashore
escalating threats from er Japan entirely by using deployment, while Japa-
North Korea. advanced missile intercep- nese reports cited Self-
The approval will allow the tors such as SM-3 Block IIA Defense Force bases in
Defense Ministry to buy that was jointly developed Akita, northern Japan, and
two Aegis Ashore systems by Japan and the U.S., Yamaguchi, in southwest-
to add to Japan’s current and would cost around ern Japan. Defense offi-
two-step missile defense 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion), cials said they chose Ae-
consisting of Patriot bat- though they have not re- gis Ashore over an option
teries and Aegis-equipped leased exact figures. of Terminal High-Altitude
destroyers. Officials say they hope the Area Defense, or THAAD,
“North Korea’s nuclear and systems are ready for op- because of its cheaper
missile development has eration by 2023. cost and versatility. Typical-
become a greater and Officials refused to disclose ly, a THAAD setup comes
more imminent threat for cost details until a planned with 48 missiles and 9 mo-
Japan’s national security, release of a 2018 budget, bile launch pads, priced
and we need to drastically in which defense spending about $1.1 billion, and Ja-
improve our ballistic missile is expected to rise to a re- pan would need at least
defense capability to pro- cord. six of those to defend the
tect Japan continuously Abe has said he fully backs country, officials said. The
and sustainably,” a state- U.S. President Donald deployment of THAAD in
ment issued by the Cabinet Trump’s policy of keeping South Korea triggered pro-
said. all options on the table, tests from China as Beijing
The deployment will add including possible military sees it a security threat.q