Posted on 01/28/2002 9:23:58 AM PST by dead
TWELVE THOUSAND Somali Bantu refugees could be resettled in the United States after sailing through the first screening phase in Nairobi and also in the Daadab and Kakuma refugees camps in the northern part of the country.
The US embassy in Nairobi is now scrutinising the names of the refugees who will undergo another assessment to verify the legality of their presence in Kenya, possible criminal history and health status, an embassy official told The EastAfrican last Thursday.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Nairobi office, the Bantu Somalis will be resettled in the US on the basis of being "negatively discriminated" against in Somalia, their native country.
The Somali Bantus' plight came to the limelight after the overthrow of the Siad Barre regime in 1991, after which the country plunged into factional fighting, now in its 10th year. They fled their homes in the Juba River valley during the civil war because they did not support any of the warlords in the conflict. Their farms were seized by bandits, forcing them to flee to Kenya.
According to Mr Andrew Hopkins, the UNHCR resettlement officer, the denial of the means of economic and social advancement in comparison with other Somali ethnic groups had made "a very good case" for the Bantus' resettlement abroad.
"They are simple and uneducated people, who view their repatriation to Somalia as a return to continued persecution," he said, adding that the minority group had suffered more than two centuries of persecution in the hands of the Marihan ethnic majority to which the late president Barre belonged.
In 1996, the Bantus petitioned the UNHCR to grant them special privileges, through a Nairobi law firm, Ibrahim and Issac, arguing that the clan fighting in Somalia had threatened them with extinction. "Even before the civil war, their rights had been trampled upon," Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, the Kenyan lawyer who represented them, said on Friday.
The US embassy in Nairobi confirmed that Washington was processing the resettlement of refugees under a special immigration programme for groups of people "who have founded fear of being persecuted in their country of origin."
Some 70,000 refugees are expected to be admitted to the United States this year, a third of them from Africa, under the programme through which 3,800 Sudanese refugees living in Kenya, mainly teenage male orphans, were approved for admission to the United States in 2000 and 2001.
Refugees have the second priority under US immigration law and are covered by a 1951 UN Convention that permits people living under extreme conditions to be resettled or granted refugee status without going through rigorous screening.
Small groups of refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, Sudan and Angola have, in the past, been resettled abroad under the programme, Mr Peter Claussen, the press attache at the US embassy said. Mr Hopkins added that other Somalis with genuine persecution fears were being considered alongside the rest."
UNHCR assistant representative in Nairobi, Mr Sergio Calle-Norena, said 10,000 of the Somali Bantus signed up to be settled in either southern Tanzania or Mozambique, where they trace their ancestry, when the repatriation got underway in 1997.
Following decades of war and the floods that devastated parts of Mozambique, Joachim Chissano's government decided it could not handle the refugee influx. Also, Tanzania declined to accept the Somali Bantu on the grounds that it was already struggling to cope with large numbers of refugees from Rwanda and Burundi.
In 1999, Washington declared the Somali Bantu a persecuted group potentially eligible for admission to the United States and stepped in to "save the refugees from persecution in Somalia," which has had no government for more than a decade.
The UNHCR carried out a screening exercise last month in which more than 12,000 Somalis qualified for resettlement in the US. The exercise, which cost UNHCR $150,000, began late last November and will be reviewed continuously by the US to eliminate cheating.
"At the end of the second phase of screening, we expect the number of refugees who will qualify for resettlement to the US to drop to between 8,000 and 10,000, said Mr Claussen. US officials said in Washington that up to 8,500 refugees would be resettled.
An official said no date had been set for personal interviews of the refugees, an integral part of the screening process for admission to the United States. Mr Claussen however said the screening is likely to start any time from this month.
"Once everything is in place, we will decide whether to take the screening team to the camps or transport the refugees to Nairobi," he said, estimating that the resettlement exercise would take about 18 months.
In the US, the refugees will be resettled in groups of 15, according to their own preferences across the the country, with family relations being a key consideration of integration into the American society. They are entitled to all the rights enjoyed by other Americans.
Plans to settle the Somalis in the United States are being implemented at a time when an American attack on suspected terrorist camps inside the country is anticipated.
The admission of refugees to the United States has slowed following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon. Some Americans have become less welcoming toward immigrants, with Muslims being viewed with an especially high degree of suspicion.
The Somali Bantu are Muslims and speak the Af Maay variant of the Somali language. The ethnic group is more traditionally known as Mushunguli (descendants of slaves) or Gosha, according to the Cultural Orientation Project, a Washington-based NGO that assists in refugee resettlement in the United States.
Gosha (forest) refers to the historically wooded section of the Juba River valley in southern Somalia where the refugees had lived. The group does have Bantu ancestry that gives its members physical features different from those of indigenous Somalis who are Cushites.
Many of the Mushunguli originally lived in South Eastern Africa - today's Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique - from where they were abducted by Arab slavers in the 19th century. Those who came to the Juba River valley are the ancestors of the Somali Bantu currently living as refugees in Kenya.
Some of the Somali Bantu still speak Swahili, an indication of their Tanzanian origins.
This is no different than administering poison to America in ever increasing doses. Bush has to know the score on this. So the question becomes WHY? Especially when we are being overrun by umpteen millions of illegal aliens from Mexico--which he is further encouraging with his insane Amnesty deal. WHY are you doing this Mr. Bush?
Both
Yes, and we have at least 50,000 more...now we can expect another 12,000.
When the next attack happens in MN, I won't be surprised. The majority of us are just too damn gullible and naive.
To those two, Somalis are just votes. When the next attack happens in Minnesota, they and their families will most likely be somewhere safe.
I swear, a Somali could fly an airplane in the IDS tower and the people of Minnesota would STILL welcome them with open arms.
Grr!!!
1. Gee, I never thought that could happen here!
and
2. Well, we should really try to understand WHY they did this and not condemn them.
It makes me sick.
Personally, I've had nothing but good experiences with them. They have been uniformly polite, hard-working, decent people.
And, of course, they seem to be following the standard progression for immigrant groups - working as cab drivers, parking attendents, etc., opening restaurants, seeing their kids get good professional educations, etc.
I've been hoping that their example would help teach some of our poorer native-born blacks that their inability to progress out of poverty has more to do with their own attitude than with racism and prejudice.
As for this latest bunch - would you want to go back to Somalia?
Many of my ancestors entered the US because they wanted to get away from the horrors of Germany and the Thirty Years War.
Would you have sent them away, too?
Seriously, I cannot answer for Solson, but I can answer for myself. Not that it matters, but yes, I have had bad experiences with young male Somalis in downtown Minneapolis.
In one particular incident, a drunk Somali (laughing) said he should kick my ***. He was in no shape to do anything as he was drunk as hell, but he would have if he could. They seem to think that they own 2nd Avenue between First and Fourth Street.
There is nothing we can do about our natives, but there is certainly something we can do about recent immigrants who cause trouble.
Tell you what....YOU move to downtown Minneapolis and YOU walk to the Tom Thumb market at night and then we'll talk!
:o))))
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