Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 16:00:27 +0200
Somalia: Ethnic Somalis Under Pressure in Kenyan Capital
11 April 2014
EASTLEIGH (NAIROBI), 11 April 2014 (IRIN) - Thousands of ethnic Somalis have
been arrested and detained in an ongoing security operation dubbed Usalama
Watch mainly in Eastleigh, a suburb of Nairobi often known as "Little
Mogadishu" because of its predominantly Somali population. Usalama means
security in Swahili.
The crackdown, which began on 2 April, came after a series of explosions in
Eastleigh that killed six people and injured more than 20. Most of those
arrested are being held at the Safaricom Stadium Kasarani, a popular
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venue, which has now temporarily been converted into a police station.
The government says the security operation is aimed at arresting the
perpetrators of the attack and weeding out sympathizers of the insurgent
Al-Shabab militia, but Muslim and Somali community leaders, as well as
rights activists, have vehemently opposed the move, arguing that it is
another heavy-handed exercise unfairly targeting ethnic Somalis.
Mass arrests
On 11 April, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement: "Kenyan police
and other security agencies should stop arbitrary arrests and detentions,
extortion, and other abuses against Somalis during security operations."
Earlier, HRW noted that the directive to make refugees in urban areas return
to camps is in violation of a High Court ruling.
On 9 April, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku told a press
conference in Nairobi that some 3,000 people had been detained in the
security operation, with 82 illegal migrants being deported to Mogadishu.
The deportees were accompanied to Mogadishu by the Somali ambassador to
Kenya, Mohamed Ali Nur Ameriko, who told IRIN that the deportees had chosen
to return home to Somalia.
But according to HRW, "the government should also halt summary deportations
and ensure that any undocumented Somalis are given the opportunity to file
asylum claims."
On 7 April, Ole Lenku told his Somali counterpart Abdullahi Godah in a
meeting in Nairobi that all undocumented Somali refugees arrested in the
operation will be deported.
Among those detained are refugees who have been returned to Dadaab refugee
camp in eastern Kenya.
In late March, Ole Lenku ordered all refugees residing outside the
designated refugee camps of Kakuma and Dadaab to return to their respective
camps with immediate effect.
"There are no other designated refugee camps outside these areas. Any
refugee found flouting this directive will be dealt with in accordance with
the law. Consequently, all refugee registration centres in urban areas -
Nairobi, Mombasa, Malindi, Isiolo and Nakuru - are hereby closed," he
stated.
Kenya hosts some 550,980 refugees and asylum seekers, among them 50,800
living in Nairobi, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Most of the
refugees and asylum seekers are from Somalia.
In an interview with IRIN, UNHCR Kenya spokesperson Emmanuel Nyabera said
the agency is in discussion with the government to access those arrested.
Nyabera also reiterated that returns to Somalia should be voluntary. "People
who are definitely seeking asylum in Kenya, who are refugees in Kenya - we
agreed during the tripartite agreement reached in November that their return
should be voluntary. So all we can do is to keep engaging the government -
which we are doing consistently."
UNHCR had in an earlier press statement urged "law enforcement agencies to
uphold the rights of all those arrested and to treat them in a humane and
non-discriminatory manner."
The statement added that UNHCR had "sought access for itself and its
partners to the detained refugees and asylum-seekers. This access will allow
UNHCR to properly identify refugees, asylum-seekers and others of concern.
It will also allow the agency to provide assistance to the detainees and
obtain their release where appropriate."
Somalis targeted
According to Yusuf Hassan, member of parliament for Kamukunji constituency
within Eastleigh, the comparison of the area to Mogadishu is unjustified as
it implies it is an outpost of the Somali republic and not part of Kenya.
This negative perception could be part of the reason Somalis feel unfairly
targeted.
"We support any operation that will weed out all kinds of criminals but what
we are against is the nature of the operation. The government needs to adopt
smart policing, intelligence gathering and fighting corruption within the
police force [rather] than targeting [a] specific community," Ahmedkadar
Ali, a Somali Kenyan blogger, told IRIN.
"Somalis have been the scapegoat for police failure. Corruption is the
biggest obstacle to [a] stable Kenya security-wise. What the police are
doing is a short-term, reactionary strategy that will yield nothing."
On Ole Lenku said the arrests have been made across the country and not in
Eastleigh alone. "Let the criminals escape to other countries. Our exercise
is to secure Kenya," he added, noting that a "state of lawlessness has
existed in Eastleigh for more than 20 years."
Commenting on the large presence of Somali refugees residing in Eastleigh
instead of in designated camps in Dadaab or Kakuma, Ali said: "Refugees,
Somalis or otherwise, can live anywhere provided they comply with the law of
the land. Some refugees have mandates from relevant UN agencies to live in
major towns. If not, refugees will do anything to make [it] to the cities,
thus corruption."
Indeed, corrupt security forces have often been blamed for infiltration into
the county by Al-Shabab insurgents.
Police inspector-general David Kimaiyo warned his forces against graft
stating: "We've put proper mechanism to fight corruption and those who'll be
caught receiving and giving bribes during [the] operation will face the
law."
Accusations
Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Shakul, a Kenyan Somali community leader, accused the
government of indiscriminately arresting the elderly, women and children.
There were also claims of looting.
The member of parliament for Wajir East constituency in northeastern Kenya,
Abbas Mohammed, added that the exercise is "inhumane, and it's actually not
in agreement with the Geneva Convention. Even if these guys are foreigners,
even if they're refugees, what the Kenyan police is doing is actually not
fair."
Nimo Nur Hajji, 25, who said she had arrived in Nairobi about two weeks ago
for treatment, was among the deportees. She spoke with IRIN on the phone
while in custody at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport detention centre an
hour before she was deported to Mogadishu.
"I came from Garowe [Puntland's administrative capital] for medical
purposes. I had an appointment with a doctor on 15 April but I am being
forced to leave the country. This is not my choice," Hajji said.
She complained about the cold weather and hunger during her three days of
"detention" at the Kasarani stadium. But according to Ole Lenku, the stadium
is being used, "for screening suspects only and they do not spend the nights
here. It has also been gazetted as a police station. Those suspects found
innocent are released immediately."
The Kenya Human Rights Commission noted that it had in the past week,
"received multiple complaints of violations by state security agencies in
the ongoing police operation. The complaints include arbitrary arrests,
extortion, theft and looting of homesteads, sexual harassment, arbitrary
detentions, illegal renditions, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment."
While KHRC officers were denied entry to Kasarani, they stated that they
have got information "which establishes patterns of conduct by the Kenya
Police that constitute serious violations of the constitution and
international human rights standards and principles." In a press conference
on 10 April, the government denied the KHRC claims.
Earlier, cabinet secretary Ole Lenku had stated that, "the [security]
operation will be done within the law and so far no reports of bribing or
the rape allegations have been established. This is the country's number one
priority."
Kenya has experienced an increased number of Al-Shabab attacks since the
2011 deployment of its troops to Somalia.
In September 2013, a shocking Al-Shabab assault on an upmarket shopping mall
in Nairobi left at least 67 people dead.
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