This article, written in a time when Kenya is trying to show the world its commitment to install viable state in Somalia (just at the start of the Imbagati Conference), delves deep into the way Kenyan Authorities treat, or more accurately, mistreat the Somalis doing business or whatever in their country. As 'the international safe' for the aid to Somalia, Kenya hosts the regional office of almost all the INGOs and UN agencies doing humanitarian and relief work in Somalia. Saeed's piece, first published in Somaliland Times, puts to the surface the grudges we share at the teashops.
It is believed that Kenya is hosting a conference of reconciliation for Somalis next month. Mediating neighbours is very noble deed but Kenya’s record of good neighborliness is bogus for so many good reasons. If Kenyan authorities are to be taken seriously, they need to mend their ways when it comes to how they treat their neighbours, the Somalis.
Ever since early 1970s, Somalis applying for Kenyan Visas were a given hard time. Although every country has a right to control foreigners coming to its territory, denying visas to people with legitimate reasons to visit Kenya such as government officials, people for various reasons sponsored by international agencies based in Nairobi, and those in transit to other countries is very unfriendly deed indeed.
People who go to Kenya come back with litany of complaints of police harassment and immigration discrimination. It just became a habit for the Kenyan police to see Somalis as a source of income. Under all sorts of pretexts, they detain and subject them to humiliation. Is the absence of Somali government or governments that could have taken up the matter with the Kenyan authorities, the cause of the continuing ordeal? Is the corruption so pervasive in the Kenyan administration the source of all the maltreatment? What is that made Somalis a soft target for the Kenyan authorities?
In the meeting of Somali Aid Coordination Body (SACB) that took place in Hargeisa in May 28-29, some Somalis who work for the international agencies based in Hargeisa voiced concern about continuing problems they face in obtaining Kenyan visa when they wish to go to that country for reasons relating to their work. These people rightly advised SACB to have a representation in Hargeisa so that their often-arduous travel arrangements to Nairobi are averted.
It could also be said that harassment of Somalis in Kenya has a long history. It is partly relic of the cold war. When in early 1970s, there was a talk of Soviet military bases in Somalia the Kenyan authorities and media in a frenzy of alarm, saw in every Somali a potential agent of Soviet machinations in Eastern Africa. Pandering to this sensational and even inaccurate information about Somali menace in Eastern Africa, the newspapers immensely contributed to demonizing Somalis, focusing on their activities, and blaming them on the ills of Kenya. At one Point, in early 1970s, Kenyan-Somali students in the University of Nairobi in a fit of pique called at the office Nation newspaper and demanded why the name of their nationality is often smeared in the pages of the paper. They got no satisfactory answer.
The first Kswahili sentences Somalis learn when they go to Kenya is to learn to how to answer police questions like Wewe! kuje hapa? You, come here! Lete kipande yako! Show me your identity card! Una kwendo wapi? Where are you going?
Relationships between peoples and states are based on reciprocity. Kenyan authorities should know that in the long term their mistreatment of Somalis is not going to pay off. Kenya too has interests in the area; her nationals also have to deal with other peoples in the region. No one is to the letter independent of the other in this increasingly interdependent world. Boundary barriers are coming down between the counties of Europe and in other geographical zones of the world. In this continent, it is for the benefit of all of us that we do not erect stiff walls between ourselves.
Saeed Ahmed Mohamoud
Hargeisa, Somaliland
saeed_mohamoud@yahoo.com
It is believed that Kenya is hosting a conference of reconciliation for Somalis next month. Mediating neighbours is very noble deed but Kenya’s record of good neighborliness is bogus for so many good reasons. If Kenyan authorities are to be taken seriously, they need to mend their ways when it comes to how they treat their neighbours, the Somalis.
Ever since early 1970s, Somalis applying for Kenyan Visas were a given hard time. Although every country has a right to control foreigners coming to its territory, denying visas to people with legitimate reasons to visit Kenya such as government officials, people for various reasons sponsored by international agencies based in Nairobi, and those in transit to other countries is very unfriendly deed indeed.
People who go to Kenya come back with litany of complaints of police harassment and immigration discrimination. It just became a habit for the Kenyan police to see Somalis as a source of income. Under all sorts of pretexts, they detain and subject them to humiliation. Is the absence of Somali government or governments that could have taken up the matter with the Kenyan authorities, the cause of the continuing ordeal? Is the corruption so pervasive in the Kenyan administration the source of all the maltreatment? What is that made Somalis a soft target for the Kenyan authorities?
In the meeting of Somali Aid Coordination Body (SACB) that took place in Hargeisa in May 28-29, some Somalis who work for the international agencies based in Hargeisa voiced concern about continuing problems they face in obtaining Kenyan visa when they wish to go to that country for reasons relating to their work. These people rightly advised SACB to have a representation in Hargeisa so that their often-arduous travel arrangements to Nairobi are averted.
It could also be said that harassment of Somalis in Kenya has a long history. It is partly relic of the cold war. When in early 1970s, there was a talk of Soviet military bases in Somalia the Kenyan authorities and media in a frenzy of alarm, saw in every Somali a potential agent of Soviet machinations in Eastern Africa. Pandering to this sensational and even inaccurate information about Somali menace in Eastern Africa, the newspapers immensely contributed to demonizing Somalis, focusing on their activities, and blaming them on the ills of Kenya. At one Point, in early 1970s, Kenyan-Somali students in the University of Nairobi in a fit of pique called at the office Nation newspaper and demanded why the name of their nationality is often smeared in the pages of the paper. They got no satisfactory answer.
The first Kswahili sentences Somalis learn when they go to Kenya is to learn to how to answer police questions like Wewe! kuje hapa? You, come here! Lete kipande yako! Show me your identity card! Una kwendo wapi? Where are you going?
Relationships between peoples and states are based on reciprocity. Kenyan authorities should know that in the long term their mistreatment of Somalis is not going to pay off. Kenya too has interests in the area; her nationals also have to deal with other peoples in the region. No one is to the letter independent of the other in this increasingly interdependent world. Boundary barriers are coming down between the counties of Europe and in other geographical zones of the world. In this continent, it is for the benefit of all of us that we do not erect stiff walls between ourselves.
Saeed Ahmed Mohamoud
Hargeisa, Somaliland
saeed_mohamoud@yahoo.com
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