CRI听力:US Pledges 45 Mln USD to Help Kenya with Refugee Crisis

The United States government has announced it's going to provide 45 million US dollars to help Kenya deal with an increasingly complex refugee crisis.

The assistance comes amid threats by the Kenyan government to shut down the massive Dadaab Refugee Camp.

The threat to shut down Dadaab has been made following last month's attack on a university campus by members of the Somali al-Shabaab militant group.

Kenyan officials have suggested the militants have support within the Dadaab refugee camp, which is home to some 600-thousand Somali refugees.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has made the US pledge while on a stop in Kenya.

"I'm pleased to announce that the United States has just provided an additional 45 million (US dollars) to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for the operations here in Kenya and we are proud of the fact that we're perhaps the largest donor in the world in terms of the refugee effort at this moment, with 3.8 billion alone going to the refugees from Syria and that conflict and this year, a significant, about a 100 million dollars coming in additional aid for the fight against terrorism here in Kenya alone."

As part of his time in Kenya, John Kerry has also held extensive talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and other officials on how to combat the al-Shabaab extremists operating out of Somalia.

His trip is also meant to set the stage for US President Barack Obama's visit to Kenya later on this summer.