President Uhuru Kenyatta insists the Dadaab refugee complex will have to be closed for the good of the region, despite campaigns by rights groups to have the plan abandoned.
At a joint press conference with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, President Kenyatta argued that the camp as it is today, no longer serves its original purpose of offering temporary shelter.
But Mr Guterres, touring the region for the first time, after taking over as the 9th UN Chief said, he had had positive discussions with the Kenyan President on various issues affecting the Horn of Africa.
President Kenyatta spoke just weeks after the High Court in Nairobi ruled that the planned repatriation of refugees would be unconstitutional.
Dadaab is the largest refugee camp in the world by population.