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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Jul 22 2010 - 09:01:17 EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/world/africa/22uganda.html
July 21, 2010
Somali Refugees Fear Loss of Ugandan Haven
By JOSH KRON
KAMPALA, Uganda — “Sometimes I get these bad dreams,” said Ahmed Uleh, his
eyes hidden behind shiny aviator sunglasses. “Like they are trying to cut
off my head.”
Mr. Uleh, 34, said he was kidnapped in Somalia last year by the Shabab, the
militant Islamist insurgent group that claimed responsibility for blowing up
two gatherings of soccer fans in Uganda during the final game of the World
Cup this month, killing 76 people and putting East Africa on high alert.
Mr. Uleh’s captors tied his legs and arms behind a chair, he said, and beat
him. After being freed, Mr. Uleh said he donned a woman’s burqa, pretended
to be a mother carrying a baby in her arms and made his way past rebel
checkpoints to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, before catching a flight out.
He arrived here in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, last year, joining tens of
thousands of other Somalis who have fled decades of violence back home, to
come live in a country diplomats and United Nations officials call a
refugee’s paradise.
Now that paradise is under threat. Since the attacks, the military and
police presence has heightened, some travelers from the Horn of Africa have
been turned away at borders and changes to asylum protocol have put Somalis
like Mr. Uleh on edge.
Adding to the anxiety among refugees, an agency working here to help
resettle them in the United States abruptly left the country, raising fears
that hundreds had been stranded.
The developments could endanger the attraction of Uganda as a precious
transit point or final destination for the droves of people fleeing the many
dangers of Somalia, including the brutality of insurgent groups like the
Shabab.
According to the United Nations, Somalia produces the third most refugees in
the world, behind Afghanistan and Iraq, and Uganda is a natural haven for
them.
It has one of the most liberal refugee policies in Africa, granting approval
to virtually all asylum applicants from the region, except Rwanda, which
seeks to have its refugees returned.
Here in Kampala, Somalis have built a flourishing and assimilated community,
selling sheep, fixing cars, running restaurants and playing soccer in a
neighborhood that many here call Little Mogadishu.
Mr. Uleh himself dresses more like a trendy nightclub D.J. than an
impoverished refugee, and thousands of Somalis here are in the middle of an
applications process to be resettled in the United States.
The World Cup was supposed to be a celebration for Somalis, too, as one of
the tournament’s official songs was performed by a popular Somali-born
rapper, K’Naan, making him a hero to many young Somali men.
But then, in the second half of the final game, three explosions ripped
through two popular sites where fans were watching. The Shabab claimed
responsibility a day later, and for Uganda’s Somali community, a new reality
was soon ushered in.
The police stopped registering new refugees immediately after the attacks.
The process has since reopened with new regulations and there has been a
surge in registrations, but community leaders said they believed that there
were many who were too timid to come forward.
They say a chill has descended on the once friendly streets of Kampala. Last
week, an Eritrean man was beaten to death by a mob that apparently thought
he was Somali.
Community leaders say more than 20 Somalis have also been arrested from the
neighborhood, including a popular businessman, and many more have been
picked up and questioned.
“We have stepped up vigilance in all corners, but our people are very
hospitable,” said Musa Ecweru, Uganda’s state minister for disasters. “We
don’t want xenophobia here. There is a lot going on at the moment.”
Refugees in Little Mogadishu have a larger worry lurking in the back of
their minds — the dream of America.
Last week, the Joint Voluntary Agency, which processes resettlement
applications of refugees on behalf of the United States government, picked
up and left the country days before a major interview session. Refugees say
they do not know why.
“I just hope they come back,” said Ahmed Adam, 21, who is one of hundreds
who was supposed to be interviewed last week.
American officials confirmed the agency’s withdrawal, describing it as a
temporary move because of the attacks. Security has been beefed up in town,
and more than 60 agents from the F.B.I. are in the country investigating the
bombings. What they find could have a major impact on how liberal the
environment for Somalis in Uganda remains.
“Resettlement of refugees to the United States is a lengthy process,” said
Joann Lockard, a spokesperson for the State Department in Uganda. “At this
time, the July 11 attacks have not altered the process for Somali refugees
in Uganda from the U.S. perspective.”
The United States resettles thousands of Somalis to America every year. More
than 50,000 have been resettled since fiscal year 2004 alone, according to
the State Department.
>From the perspective of some of the Somalis in Uganda, veterans of refugee
life, the attacks are another setback in a long and unpredictable line of
interviews, security checks and bulletin-board announcements.
Ali Mohammed Muse, 28, is one. He and his mother fled from Somalia to Uganda
in 2004, and she was soon resettled to the United States. At his refugee
camp in Uganda, Mr. Muse worked as a youth leader and soccer coach.
Now he lives in Little Mogadishu, hoping to be reunited with his mother in
Seattle. But Mr. Muse fears that the terrorist attacks have dented his
chances, and shakes his head helplessly.
“I don’t know why, but I feel like I am guilty,” he said. “Maybe I look like
one; maybe I have the same name.”
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