Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The hope for a better future is what has brought people there, and with successful businesses, schools and continued instability in Somalia, Dadaab will keep these refugees.
The town has hosted three refugee camps since the early 90s; Hagadera, IFO and Dagahaley. As new refugees flooded in, they started to settle in an area of Dagahaley known as Bula Bakti (crudely translated as “carcass dump”). These refugees are now, slowly, being relocated to an area known as ‘IFO extension’; calling it an ‘extension’ is a clever way of trying to deflect the fact that Dadaab is growing, a new refugee camp is coming to life.
Al-Shabaab
As of July 2011, Kenya registered 366,776 Somali refugees. Watching the new arrivals going through the reception process (registration is not possible due to the high numbers), it was surprising to see so many young men coming in. This brought about questions of why these men are fleeing and discoveries that people are running from the radical group al-Shabaab just as much as they flee from famine or drought.
Abdikadir Aden Ali used to work in a tobacco company in Jilib, southern Somalia. When al-Shabaab banned the selling and smoking of cigarettes in various districts, Abdikadir was one of those who lost his jobs when the tobacco factories had to shut down.
As the family’s main bread-earner he turned to selling Khat, a popular plant whose leaves act as a stimulant when chewed. However, al-Shabaab also banned the sale and consumption of Khat and Abdikadir was forced to flee Somalia out of fear of persecution.
His brother was one of their victims, he owned a small shop and was killed by the radicals who “wanted to collect his wealth”. Al-Shabaab are intimidating people into giving them money and goods, “if you don’t give them they will not leave you alone,” said Hassan.
He went on to talk about members of his own community in Somalia who are recruited by al-Shabaab and in the same day ordered to carry out ‘wealth’ collections or even kill.