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US to Resettle Thousands of Somalis
The East African ^ | January 21, 2002 | JUMA KWAYERA

Posted on 01/21/2002 10:02:38 PM PST by stilts

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.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: immigrantlist
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How does one investigate to know that 12,000 people were "negatively discriminated" against? I suppose none of them saw a free ride to a life in the US and joined the lawsuit as a way to get here.
1 posted on 01/21/2002 10:02:38 PM PST by stilts
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To: stilts
Well, well, well. And I wonder how many of these 12,000 are militant, extremist Muslims ready to repay our kindness by killing as many of us as they can?...JFK
2 posted on 01/21/2002 10:06:10 PM PST by BADROTOFINGER
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To: stilts
Actually most black immigrants I know are highly conservative and castigate American blacks for not appreciating how good they have it here.
3 posted on 01/21/2002 10:06:13 PM PST by flying Elvis
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To: stilts
How about "resettling" some more Somali-murdering Warlords (murdering criminals) to shallow graves, and leaving the Somali People where they are?

I guess it's easier to just give up, and run.

So proud. I suppose next they'll be offered jobs in the Clinton Library...sorting Archie and Jughead files.

4 posted on 01/21/2002 10:23:49 PM PST by PoorMuttly
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To: stilts
Why is Bush hell-bent on turning our country into a cheap, disease-ridden, balkanized, turd-world tower of babel? Why? WHY? Can somebody tell me why? Can somebody tell me why I shouldn't just go crazy and wonder what the hell damned country I'm living in?

Lberalism must be crsuhed!
5 posted on 01/21/2002 10:25:43 PM PST by Thorondir
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To: stilts
Why does this not surprise me?
6 posted on 01/21/2002 10:26:14 PM PST by BnBlFlag
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To: stilts
Bring them up to Seattle where they can join their brethren who partied away the night of 9-11.
7 posted on 01/21/2002 10:34:08 PM PST by Free the USA
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To: stilts
This has me thinking. Why is it that black Somalis are given precedent over white farmers from Zimbabwe and South Africa who are being killed. I mean, the latter is actual discrimination, while the former is pure speculation. Yet, these white farmers, most of which who would assimilate rather well, are taking the back seat to these Black Somalis of whom aren't likely to assimilate all that well.
8 posted on 01/21/2002 10:38:57 PM PST by FreedomFriend
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To: flying Elvis
When will we learn that we CANNOT solve all the world's problems by inviting the all the world's unfortunate to come live here?
We've got plenty of our own unfortunates here to worry about waaaay before we invite the possibly criminal, possibly terrorist Somalis to cram into our already overcrowded urban areas.
It seem as if neither party in the US is ever going to get real about immigration. We need a break for the record numbers of LEGAL immigrants in our own country to assimilate before we even consider allowing thousands of refugees in.
And while we're allowing this assimilation to take place we should use this time to let the INS do its job by deporting illegals and getting some semblance of control over our borders.
9 posted on 01/21/2002 10:42:32 PM PST by BigWest
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To: stilts
The operative word is "could be". Of all the places on God's green earth, why does everyone have to be planted here in America? I thought just about everyone hated this place.

If the UN can continue to shuffle people around and remove them from their cultures and heritage they just might succeed in their mission of being the governing body.

It appears there is a methodical progression in removing the foundations that has made America, all in the name of diversity.

10 posted on 01/21/2002 10:43:25 PM PST by swheats
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To: BnBlFlag
Yea. Big Supprise. The Pres. does not beleive in dancing with those who voted for him. Funny guy.
11 posted on 01/21/2002 10:52:02 PM PST by Dubya
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To: stilts
This is the last straw for me.

There is no war on terrorism. There is a deliberate war on the citizens of the USA.

It is being propagated by the one-world government currently under construction in Washington, D.C.

12 posted on 01/21/2002 10:53:06 PM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: stilts
As if millions upon millions of immigrants already here are not enough, they decide to dump some more on us.
13 posted on 01/21/2002 10:53:25 PM PST by dougherty
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To: Uncle Bill
We can all relax for a while. There won't be another attack here until Bush's poll numbers start to drop again and they want to take everyone's attention off of what they're really doing...the b@st@rds...
14 posted on 01/21/2002 10:58:27 PM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: FreedomFriend
Why is it that black Somalis are given precedent over white farmers from Zimbabwe and South Africa who are being killed. I mean, the latter is actual discrimination, while the former is pure speculation.

Good point. These farmers and their families are being murdered, but I guess their skin is not dark enough for Bush and the lefties. This country is going to hell and it doesn't matter whether we have a Republican in office or a Dem, they're all the same.

15 posted on 01/21/2002 10:58:56 PM PST by dougherty
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To: PoorMuttly
I nominate PoorMuttly for Secretary of State...JFK
16 posted on 01/21/2002 11:00:42 PM PST by BADROTOFINGER
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To: stilts
The Bushites want to finish killing what is left of American culture. They want to bring in 12,000 simple, uneducated Somalis? Where will they go? Who will support them?
17 posted on 01/21/2002 11:01:41 PM PST by Don Myers
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To: Lion's Cub
"It is being propagated by the one-world government currently under construction in Washington, D.C."

Yes, the Bushites are very involved with this effort.

18 posted on 01/21/2002 11:09:30 PM PST by Don Myers
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To: BigWest
When will we learn that we CANNOT solve all the world's problems by inviting the all the world's unfortunate to come live here?

Good question, my friend. But there is a greater notion to consider here. These morons are "unfortunate" only because they are too damned primitive, lazy, and unacculturated to decency, civilization, freedom and responsibility to fix their own turd-world dump. THAT, and nothing else, is why they are "unfortunate". Bringing them here will only further dilute our culture into the liberal, turd-world morass.
19 posted on 01/21/2002 11:09:58 PM PST by Thorondir
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To: stilts
I predict that in 10 years and not more than 20 years we are going to have another civil war in this country. Our government refuses to protect us from this invasion and in fact encougages it so the elite can retain power. It is just a matter of time.
20 posted on 01/21/2002 11:10:38 PM PST by healey22
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