Kenya's authorities threaten Somali refugees: Rights group

FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 5, 2011 file photo, newly arrived Somali refugees wait outside a UNHCR processing center at the Ifo refugee camp outside Dadaab, eastern Kenya, 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Somali border. A repatriation program for hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in the world's largest refugee camp doesn't meet international standards for voluntary return because it is marked by fear and intimidation by Kenyan authorities, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 file photo, parts of Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, are seen from a helicopter in northern Kenya. A repatriation program for hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in the world's largest refugee camp doesn't meet international standards for voluntary return because it is marked by fear and intimidation by Kenyan authorities, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File) (The Associated Press)

KAMPALA, Uganda – Human Rights Watch says a repatriation program for hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in Kenya doesn't meet international standards for voluntary return because it is marked by fear and intimidation.

Kenya wants more than 260,000 Somali refugees to return home amid concerns that some in the Dadaab refugee camp are used by Somalia-based al-Shabab Islamic extremists to launch attacks inside Kenya.

Kenya plans to close Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, before the end of this year.

Human Rights Watch says some refugees have been told they would forfeit a $400 U.N. cash grant if they were deported later this year, so some leave earlier.

The rights group says many camp residents are being compelled to return to Somalia without adequate information about the dangers they face there.