Hiiraan Online

Emma Wallis
Friday August 2, 2024

File photo: Secrurity and emergency workers carry victims away after fighting in Mogadishu in 2021 | Photo: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP/picture alliance

The stories of two Somali journalists have hit the headlines recently, after it was reported that they are some of hundreds of thousands of Somalis to flee the country and try and seek refuge elsewhere.

Salman Jamal Said worked as a TV journalist in Somalia before seeking refuge in the Irish capital Dublin, Ireland’s public broadcaster RTE reported in July. Ilyas Ahmad Elmi is another Somali journalist who, according to an article at the weekend in the UK’s The Guardian newspaper, has been trying to reach his former wife and son in Germany for over a year. He is currently facing deportation in Russia.

In 2023, the organization Human Rights Watch reported the uptick in fighting in several parts of Somalia had resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and forced almost 650,000 to flee. Many people have sought to flee internally, or to neighboring Ethiopia. It was mostly Somalis who died when a ship went down in the Gulf of Aden on its way to Yemen in July.

The situation in Somalia is complicated. Government forces are fighting the Islamic terror group Al-Shabab, but there is also a network of clans and armed opposition groups who are all joining in on various sides and making it more and more difficult to leave securely in some parts of Somalia, like Puntland.

Between January and September 2023, the United Nations reported that 1.5 million people were newly internally displaced in Somalia, 40 percent of whom were displaced due to conflict.

Human Rights Watch says the Somali authorities have carried out executions of those they accuse of being part of Al-Shabab, often following military court proceedings that allegedly "violated international fair trial standards."

For their part, Al-Shabab fighters also execute individuals, states Human Rights Watch "accused of working or spying for the government and foreign forces, often after unfair trails."

In March last year, the Somali President signed into law a National Security and Intelligence Agency (NISA) bill, that, according to HRW, "granted sweeping powers of arrest, detention, and surveillance with minimal independent oversight to the abusive agency."

Suicide car bomb attack

Like their fellow countrymen and women, Somali journalists have been working under increasingly difficult conditions. Those who have decided to flee report suffering frequent death threats, and seeing colleagues killed before finally believing they had no other choice but to leave the country.

That was reportedly the case for Salman Jamal Said. On July 26 2015, Said was in a car with three colleagues, traveling on a main road in central Mogadishu from the TV station where he worked, to the international airport, reports RTE Prime Time.

As they drove towards the airport, another car crashed into them in a "deliberate collision." Their car, reports RTE, was involved in a "targeted attack by a suicide bomber that blew up both cars."

The driver was reported to be a member of al-Shabab, which at the time controlled many villages and territories in Somalia, including some areas and roads around Mogadishu.

Two of Said’s colleagues died instantly, and he suffered "horrific burns and life-changing injuries," writes RTE. "I lost my eye. It was hard for me but what happened to my colleagues was worse. I lost two of my best friends in that suicide attack," Said explained to RTE.

Fled in 2023

After the attack, Said was flown to Turkey for specialized surgery, reports RTE. He remained in Turkey for seven years, before returning to Somalia in 2022. There he took up a role as senior media adviser to the speaker of the Somali government.

But after appearing on TV alongside the government official, reported RTE, Said too was brought to the attention of al-Shabab. First he was sent messages, telling him his life was still in danger, and then Said told RTE that the terrorist group attempted to attack him in 2023. That’s why he decided to flee in November 2023.

Ireland’s Department of Justice told RTE that Said is one of 3,627 Somalis who arrived in Ireland to seek asylum in the last four years. This year alone, between January and July 7, 685 Somalis have sought asylum in Ireland.

People smugglers arranged a false passport to Ireland

Said said that he paid a people smuggler around 4,000 dollars (about 3,700 euros) to flee Somalia. For that sum, he says he was provided with a false passport with a picture of a person who looked like him. He flew from Mogadishu to Istanbul in late November, and the next day on to Dublin.

On arrival in Dublin airport, Said said he gave the passport back to the smuggler who would then reuse it for someone else, reported RTE. This is a fairly common route to get to Europe, explained Said. In the past, Europol has estimated that more than 90 percent of migrants who reach the EU do so with the help of a smuggler at some point in their journey.

On leaving Dublin airport, Said said he knew to go to the international protection office in Mount Street, near Dublin city center. He was then given a place in a reception center for international protection applicants in County Dublin.

'You have no privacy'

Said said that first night was hard. "I shared a room with people from different nationalities –Nigeria, Pakistan, and other countries in Europe. Life is difficult as you have no privacy like you would have at home," Said told RTE.

He says he was recognized by other Somalis at the center, who wondered why he would need to take this route, since to them he was "a famous person." Said told RTE that the tight-knit Somali community has since helped him out a lot since he arrived.

Said left a wife and three kids in Mogadishu. He told RTE he saves up most of his weekly asylum seeker’s allowance of 38.80 euros per week and sends it to them. His food and accommodation is covered by direct provision. He and his family stay in contact via WhatsApp video calls.

Initially, Said was not allowed to work. He told RTE he would while away time at the library and play football with other Somalis. He would also meet up with members of the community and drink coffee. In the last few weeks, Said acquired a work permit and he is now interviewing for jobs.

Said says he is looking for work as a security guard, in the hope of becoming financially independent.

The Belarus route

For journalist Ilyas Ahmad Elmi, the route was slightly different, reports the Guardian. Although he twice made it across the Belarus border into Poland, he says he was pushed back and is now fearing deportation in Russia, because of an expired visa and having refused to fight for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In Somalia, Elmi worked a number of different jobs, the last being head of programs and social media for the state television network SNTV. His former wife Muna had left while pregnant with his child in 2015 after an al-Shabab raid on the town where they lived.

Muna told the Guardian that she thought Elmi hadn’t survived the attack and left with some people as fast as she could. Muna traveled first to Nairobi, then to Norway and finally to Germany, where she and her son were granted refugee status.

'I fainted that night in fear and couldn't continue working'

Elmi too says he was threatened by jihadi extremists in Somalia. He wanted to avoid the dangers of the Mediterranean route, and so decided to fly to Russia on a visa from Kenya, and then attempt to enter the EU via Belarus. In late 2021, one of his friends, Radio Mogadishu director Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled was killed by an al-Shabab suicide bomber. "I fainted that night in fear and couldn’t continue working," Elmi told the Guardian.

In the forest though, Elmi says he was beaten by border guards and even watched while a young Somali woman in his group of migrants attempting to cross into Poland died, he says due to lack of medical attention.

"Of all the time in Somalia with bombings, and civil war, I’d never felt more fear than in Belarus," Elmi told the Guardian.

The Finland route

After several months of trying, Elmi heard that the Finland route via Russia might be easier. So he re-entered Russia from Belarus, but up near the border with Finland, he was arrested due to his expired visa, and told that he would have to join the Russian army.

At first, Elmi says that the recruiters promised him six months of training and a year’s duration in total, and so he ended up signing a form in Russian he didn’t understand, thinking he could seek asylum before the end of the training.

But, after signing the form, Elmi told the Guardian that he was sent for two weeks basic training and then told he would have to start at the front in Ukraine. After the basic training, Elmi and a few others refused to fight, so they were sent to a deportation facility in the Rostov region. He was then released and allowed to lodge an application for asylum, but that has been rejected, so now Elmi faces deportation or detention, reports the Guardian.

Now Elmi is hoping that press freedom groups will help him reach the EU. But most have said they cannot help with asylum applications until he actually reaches European territory.