Nearly 12,000 Somali refugees transferred

Hiraan online ^ | 10/08/02 | XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

[ozone1]

Nearly 12,000 Somali refugees transferred within Kenya NAIROBI, Oct 8, 2002 (Xinhua ) - Some 11,800 Somali Bantu refugees have been successfully transferred from the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya to Kakuma camp in the northwestern Turkana District, the United Nations refugee agency said here Tuesday.

The transfer, which took nearly four months to complete, is aimed to facilitate the process of resettling the refugees in the United States, said the George OKoth-Obbo, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"This challenging operation could not have been possible without the support of partners, above all the International Organization for Migration, but not less so the government of Kenya, which provided various administrative support including police officers to escort each and every convoy," he said.

In Kakuma, the Somali Bantu refugees will undergo resettlement processing, including documentation and medical examinations as required by the US immigration, and the first of the refugees accepted are expected to leave for their new home early next year.

The Somali Bantus are a minority in Somalia and their physical, cultural and linguistic characteristics distinguish them from the Cushitic majority.

There are widespread discrimination against the Bantus in Somalia, and many of the Somali Bantu refugees have expressed unwillingness to go back to Somalia, said the representative.

The U.S. agreed to settle the refugees after Mozambique, a southern African country, turned down a resettlement request from UNHCR.

"Considering the security situation and specific protection concerns in their country of origin, repatriation of these refugees back to Somalia in safety and dignity was considered quite unlikely," he said.

[ozone1]

12,000 more coming on welfare rolls near you.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

coming on welfare rolls near you.

Maybe yes, maybe no. People who have the gumption to emmigrate tend to have the gumption to find some way to earn their keep.

[Brush_Your_Teeth]

Maybe yes, maybe no. People who have the gumption to emmigrate tend to have the gumption to find some way to earn their keep.

Really? Then why did 1000 move from atlanta to maine for better welfare programs?

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

We are the giant cesspool.

[ozone1]

I don't see them going to Poland Springs or Kennebunkport.

[BCrago66]

You don't a Somalian can earn a samolian?

[cp124]

Hello.....Macitosh....Thats another 11,000 laptops for the State of Maine.

[lsee]

I think America's "help" would take a better form and our money would be better spent in creating better circumstances for the Somalis in their OWN country. Tribal warfare has always existed in that nation. Soon there will be another persecuted group...and another. The goal should be local peace, not 'send 'em to the United States'. That just relocates the problem.

[Black Agnes]

Do a search for 'somali' on this forum. Read the articles. After 18 months, 90% are still unemployed and the ones that will work don't want to work unless it's between 10am and 2pm.

[cp124]

Indeed, in moving from Georgia to Maine, Somalis are trading one of the nation's least generous welfare systems for one of its most generous.

Lewiston provides general assistance to anyone in need, splitting the cost with the state. Such relief was unavailable in Clarkston. In Georgia, there is a four-year time limit for receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. In Maine it's five, but even that can be extended. About a quarter of Lewiston's Somali families receive that form of welfare, according to the state. And in Maine, a state-funded program assists single parents while they attend college.

There is a waiting list for public housing in Lewiston, but not nearly as long as back in Georgia. About a third of the more than 90 apartments at Hillview, Lewiston's largest public housing project, have Somali tenants, and about 35 more Somali families have received Section 8 vouchers, which subsidize the rent on private apartments.

[ozone1]

"Somali Bantu. Some 133,000 Somali Bantu (Mushunguli), descendents of persons captured along Africa's eastern edge of present-day Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania by Arab slave traders, are living in refugee camps along the Kenya-Somalia border. Although born in Somalia, most say they cannot return there, since they have no warlord to protect them- Somalia has been divided among rival warlords since 1991.

Zanzibar and Mozambique, where there are Bantu residents with similar languages, have refused to accept the Somali Bantu. The UNHCR is processing the Somali Bantu as refugees, and many hope to be resettled in the US; the US declared the Somali Bantu a persecuted group in 1999. "

http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/archive_mn/jan_2002-17mn.html

[cp124]

But Renee Bernier, the City Council president, says the market for unskilled labor with limited English is gone.

Bernier, who has a security business, says that when she tried to hire 30 Somalis at $8 an hour to hold "stop and slow" signs at road construction sites, the few who showed interest wanted to work only from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. She was further irked when some Somalis sought low-interest loans for businesses downtown — without good credit or a track record — under an obscure city program.

"How the hell do they find out about this stuff?" she asks.

[cp124]

The Somali migration to Lewiston has not been without a few incidents of anger, name-calling and fights. One man put a sign on his lawn expressing his displeasure with their presence. That angered Kaileigh Tara, who was mayor when the Somalis first started arriving.

"It blows my mind that they can't connect the dots, that to sit here in their little world and say, 'We don't want these other people here, the rest of the world can take care of itself,' that's why we were attacked on Sept. 11, that's how we get airplanes slamming into buildings," Tara says.

But, in the spirit of the sahan, Abdiaziz Ali figures if the mood sours or if Somalis keep coming and Lewiston, like Portland before it, fills to overflowing, they will simply move on to the next city or town, to Augusta or Bath.

He is not worried. "We can spread out," he says, "anywhere we want."

[ozone1]

"I would also like to welcome recent statements by Commissioner Ziglar and Assistant Secretary Dewey that show a strong commitment to refugee protection and resettlement. My testimony today will focus on the challenges that lie ahead for the program, and the private sector's enthusiasm to work together in partnership with the State Department, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to meet our commitments."

http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/immigdaily/congress_news/2002,0214-Glickman.shtm

[Black Agnes]

You're kidding, right? The state will encourage more to come, and encourage them to vote dim! More Somalis on welfare==more dim voters!

Plus! Added Bonus! Somalia is a hotbed of Muslim extremist activity. The Somalis that shot down our guys in BlackHawk Down were trained by Bin-Laden. Somali 'refugees' are involved in extremist activity in Europe as well. AND, Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 pilots stopped over in Portland Maine the night of 9/10. What was he doing in Portland Maine of all places, the night before the hijacking? Staying with 'friends' no doubt...

[montag813]

>> "How the hell do they find out about this stuff?" she asks. << Answer: taught by fellow parasites who know how to work the system.

What political party is responsible for this disgusting fiasco? What Administration agreed to the absorption of these cockroaches? I was in large part ignorant of this issue. When the hell did this happen, and is there any way to mount an organized effort to stop it?

[ozone1]

"FY 2002 Processing Priorities
The proposed ceiling for FY 2002 of 22,000 is intended to address the pressing needs of certain groups of African refugees, the logistical and political realities of refugee processing in a chronically difficult environment with an eroding infrastructure, and the need to expand the program in a way that balances long term needs against the past five years of rapid growth.

The disruptions in processing in West Africa in FY 2001 are likely to result in a sharp increase in the cases processed, as soon as conditions stabilize enough to resume circuit rides. UNHCR is finalizing the list of Bantu Somali Priority Two (P-2) cases now at the Dadaab camp in Kenya. This group will comprise the bulk of the P-2 caseload in FY 2002."

http://www.state.gov/g/prm/refadm/rls/rpts/7241.htm