Somali refugees in Daadab: Cause of Kenya`s insecurity or innocent asylum seekers?

Following the long period of turmoil and political mayhem in Somalia under the reign of Siad Barre, the country disintegrated into Islands of violence perpetrated by clan warlords. The country no longer claimed its empirical statehood and its juridical statehood silently weathered under the heat of decayed governance. What followed were two-and-a-half decades of intolerance, hunger, death and unending rivalry in the name of clan war, a war of its own kind never witnessed in the horn of Africa before. Torn by war and hunger, a banana republic was born in the horn of Africa. Over 350,000 civilians died and more than 80% of the population was starving. The situation was catastrophic and there was dire need for humanitarian assistance. On 9^th of December, 1992, the first troop of Marines arrived in Mogadishu and in a period of less than a month, close to 30,000 US soldiers were in Somalia. The US attempted to intervene in a conflict fueled by inter-clan animosities knowing very well this was not the war it could win. 

The situation went from bad to worse and the violence intensified especially with the presence of armed kaffir foreigners. Presence of US forces awakened an age-old hatred for America and the West at large.  This was a sign of the imperialism the holy prophet had preached against and which the good book had called all to fight against. A section of the people especially pro-government regions were happy because the forces protected relief food which they needed dearly. Rebels and war lords united against the US forces and successfully drove them out. For the first time, the powerful political hegemon was brought to its knees by hardened jungle-trained militants. A cloud of triumph enveloped Somalia and most of them were happy to bid the “white skins” goodbye.

The old sadness crept back when the civil war resumed this time in full glare. Civilians had nowhere to hide and rebels took control of relief food centers. Many families retreated towards the Kenyan border while others fled to Ethiopia. This was the beginning of more than two-and-a-half decades stay in a foreign country. The international community offered humanitarian assistance to refugees in Kenya through the UNHCR and camps were established to host them. Kenya had a responsibility to protect, an obligation it acquired on acceding to the 1951 UN Convention on refugees and its subsequent 1967 protocol on refugees. Close to two decades later, Kenya acceded to the 1969 OAU convention on refugees and in 2006, the 1951 UN Convention was domesticated in the 2006 Refugee Act. To affirm its commitment, a Department of refugee Affairs was established following the enactment of the Refugee Act. Kenya became host to a growing number of refugees evading the bloody civil war in Somalia. The war showed no signs of ending and most of the refugees found a home in the Daadab camp. By early 2016, the UNHCR reported that Kenya was host to more than 600,000 refugees. A previous report by UNHCR in 2010 indicated that close to 50,000 refugees were living in Nairobi. 

Surprisingly, crime rate soared in Eastleigh area of Nairobi. Asylum seekers had now integrated with the population. Through the Gulf of Aden, shipments of armaments flowed into Somalia and spread to the great lakes region .Eastleigh became a hub for human trafficking and a market for small arms.It also became the transit point for Somalis destined to South Africa. Illegal passports, Identity cards, birth certificates and quick visas could now be obtained much easier. Corrupt government officers and police facilitated crime by protecting the ring of clandestine operators who planned the movement of refugees from the border to Eastleigh in return for a fee. Day in day out, Somalis flocked into Nairobi and others left the country to South Africa. Some were trafficked for cheap labor in construction and plantations in South Africa. Countries in the Gulf region showed preference for Muslim domestic workers and therefore scrupulous recruitment agencies which existed only in fake papers preyed on the increasing number of frustrated, desperate  and hungry Somali refugees and facilitated their travel to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman ,Kuwait, Bahrain and other countries. Whether the refugees benefitted from these dubious briefcase agencies and indeed got genuine employment is not the essence of this article. Eastleigh also became a market for goods imported from the Middle East and a booming economy ensued. The statement “If you need anything, of whatever kind, that you can’t find anywhere else for an affordable price go to Eastleigh” describes the variety and diversity of the trades in the place. It’s not in the author’s intention to portray all businesses in Eastleigh as unlawful.

Was the increasing number of unregistered refugees the cause of increased crime rate in Nairobi?Should the taxpayer blame refugees for the increasing terror activities in the country? It’s no doubt that acts of terror such as the Garrisa University the Westgate attacks have claimed lives in this country. Who is to blame? The fragility of the Kenyan government is a product of many factors. 

One of these factors is corruption. Corruption has buttress roots in the public service which spread from Ministries to the police force. Its long tentacles further stream from high public officers in the bureaucracy to the lowest ranks. The chain runs through the system and this has undermined the states capacity to secure its citizenry and the nation. Organized crime in Eastleigh and other areas has not survived without support from hungry, underpaid, extortionist police officers. With reinforced capacity in the police force in form of vehicles and armament, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason why crime in this area has escaped the hawk-eye surveillance of the police force. Instead, police officers turned Eastleigh and other areas of Eastland such as Mathare, Korogocho, and Kariokor into money-wells. All they do is to tow behind a land cruiser, occasionally brandishing their rifles and adjusting their protruding bellies as they do their rounds for dues from criminals who facilitate smuggling, trafficking and also operate offices where forged documents are made. This kind of tolerance has propelled crime to higher levels. Criminals are only in trouble if they are arrested because they might reveal the circus the police are engaged in. 

Secondly, the fragmentation of political identity and the deliberate creation of a fractured society in Kenya have weakened the protective capacity of the state. Ethnicity, tribalism and nepotism reduce social trust and disintegrate national cohesion. The Northerners especially those in Moyale, Garissa and other areas have been victims of exclusive politics. Needless to say, patriotism has disintegrated and today citizen loyalty is highly divided. With politics of exclusion, national resources have been exploited and shared out unequally and a huge population has been marginalized. As such, the question of insecurity should be expanded to include factors that undermine the unity of the state. Factors that from a glance appear isolated from insecurity. Security analysts have generically linked insecurity with increase in illegal firearms the often-repeated “porous border” argument. They have deliberately or unconsciously ignored latent factors such as poverty, unemployment and the disintegration of national cohesion which are major factors in strengthening a country`s human security.

The tenuous nature of political regimes and short term planning has also highly contributed to insecurity in Kenya. Kenya has always pursued short term goals aimed at quelling emergent issues but there has not been strong focus on long term plans to combat insecurity. Security is beefed up along borders and internally whenever there has been an attack. Heavily armed patrols were common after grenade attacks in Nairobi and after the Westgate and Garissa attacks. Eventually, things return to an “artificial normalcy” and the state relaxes its reins. Most of the plans in place including those geared towards economic development are basically tied to political interests .Opportunists use security issues to amplify their political agenda yet security is a crucial matter that should never be politicized. One wonders why for instance the Somali refugee issue has arisen just a year to the general election. Could this be perfect timing for the Jubilee government to demonstrate its attempts to secure the state or it’s just coincidental? 

International law on refugees in one way has been a challenge to states seeking to secure themselves from intruders. Article 31 of the 1951 convention regarding refugees who enter a state unlawfully states that contracting states shall not impose penalties to illegal refugees on account of their illegal entry or presence. This means that refugees escaping hostile situations in their country of origin can simply slip between borders whenever possible and enter other states territory without fear of arrest or detention. Kenyan authorities may argue that they did not open their doors to Somali refugees willingly and therefore argue that its within the state`s right to expel them but this will definitely contravene international law and the Convention.

Is the government genuine in blaming Somali refugees as the major cause of Kenya`s insecurity? The answer is definitely no. The Kenyan government should start by addressing internal factors that contribute to insecurity. How about cleaning-up the police force and the bureaucracy? By reducing the level of corruption amongst the police, illegal immigrants will be controlled. Secondly, systemic change is required so as to incorporate all individuals within the state in national development and growth. This will completely erase the existing feeling of alienation among the Northerners and a change in attitude amongst them will raise the level of allegiance to the state or patriotism. Only secluded individuals with no sense of belonging will at any time be used to attack citizens of their own state. This step is essential especially now that terrorism has shifted its dynamics. Today, terrorists can be of any origin as opposed to the past when it was majorly correlated with individuals of Arab or Somali origin. 

Should Kenya repatriate Somali refugees? This question can be approached from a moral perspective and also a legal perspective. I will address the latter because it constitutes a basis for decision making. Kenya acceded to the 1951 UN convention and the OAU protocol of 1969. Kenya has complied with the requirements of the Convention and has granted Somali asylum seekers a home for over 25 years. The principle of non-refoulement (spelled out in Article 33 of the Convention) is embedded in international law and it states that a refugee shall not be forced to return to his/her country of origin where he/she fears attack on her life or a threat to freedom. However, Article 33(2) clearly states that on grounds of state security where a refugee is considered a threat to the security of a country and its citizens, the host state has a right to expel or return the refugee to country of origin irrespective of the prevailing situation in that country. Kenya cited insecurity among other issues such as economic strain as major reasons for seeking to repatriate Somali refugees. Grounds for insecurity must be established to execute the repatriation plan in a transparent manner. The insecurity argument forwarded by Michael Kibicho is shaky and lacks supportive evidence. The argument that Somalia is settled and that refugees will be at peace in Somalia is highly debatable. Finally, sobriety may have resumed in some areas but militia is still in control of vast areas and the banana republic in Somalia is yet to gain empirical statehood especially with bandits and militants still revolting against it.