NAIROBI
Kenya on Thursday deported 91 more illegal Somali immigrants arrested over the course of an ongoing massive security operation.
"They went through a vetting [process] and both [the] Kenyan and Somali governments confirmed that they were indeed illegal aliens," Somali Ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Nur, who accompanied the deportees to Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, told Anadolu Agency.
Kenyan police say they plan to deport as many as 225 illegal immigrants, including 214 Somalis, six Ethiopians, two Ugandans, a Tanzanian, a Cameroonian and a South Sudanese national.
"We expect more Somalis to be deported as soon as planes to Mogadishu will be available," said Ambassador Nur.
On April 9, Kenya deported 82 Somali illegal immigrants back to the war torn Horn of Africa country after they were arrested in the ongoing security crackdown.
Following a recent spate of attacks in Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa, the Kenyan authorities launched a wide-ranging operation ostensibly aimed at restoring public security.
The operation has seen thousands of people detained for screening, mostly thought to be Muslims from Nairobi's Eastleigh district, which is home to an estimated 50,000 Somali refugees.
The crackdown has met with criticism by local Muslim clerics, political leaders and human rights activists, who say it discriminates against Muslims and people of Somali origin.
Interior Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku, for his part, has defended the move, saying the government was acting within the law.
The East Africa nation has experienced a spate of terror attacks since sending troops to Somalia in 2011.
By Yassin Juma
englishnews@aa.com.tr
