By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Kenyan government has decided to shut down Dadaab refugee camp in the next one year. Dadaab residents have been told to leave the country before May, 2017.
“For reasons of pressing national security that speak to the safety of Kenyans in a context of terrorist and criminal activities, the government of the Republic of Kenya has commenced the exercise of closing Dadaab refugee complex,” a press statement released by the government recently reads.
The Dadaab refugee camp is the biggest in the world. It is home to up to 330, 000 Somalis. The Kenyan government cited reasons like the camp being an economic burden and a hub for Al Shabab activities for its closure.
Kenya’s second largest refugee camp in Kakuma, which largely houses South Sudan refugees, has been spared for now.
Kenya is deeply involved in the fight against Al Shabaab in Somalia. It has a huge troop presence in the Horn of African nation. However, this has come at a price; the country has suffered multiple terror attacks by the Al Shabaab terror group, most prominently the West Gate mall attack and the Garrisa shooting of university students.
Refugees in Dadaab say the move does not come as a surprise. They accuse the government of Kenya of making things difficult to encourage refugees to return. One of the leaders at the camp, Abdullahi Osman said: “We are not surprised to hear the closure of the camp. We have already felt the burn,” he was quoted by the African Arguments.com.
In the last few years there has been up to a 50% cut to food rations to the camp. Health care has deteriorated and sanitary conditions worsened.
This move by the Kenyans has provoked an over whelming outcry across the region by aid groups and other human rights bodies. Up to a dozen groups, including Save the Children and Oxfam, have condemned the move and urged the Kenyan government to rethink their decision on the closure of the camp.
Director of Amnesty International UK, Kate Allen, says: “Forcing them back to the violence and persecution is as immoral as it is unlawful and it risks increasing instability and displacement in the region.”
Human Rights Watch has warned that such desperation to close down the camp by the government could cause major human rights violations.
Gerry Simpson, a senior researcher for the refugee programme, made reference to three years ago when the government used the same tactics to relocate Somalis settling in Nairobi to the Dadaab camp. Simpson said rape, extortion, fear, beatings and arbitrary arrests were among the crimes that were committed against Somalis.
Such is the strong tone of words that is coming from the aid groups operating in the region. Apart from the moral aspect and the imminent human rights violations in sight, other bodies are concerned about the possibility to conduct such operations in the first place.
If Dadaab was a town in Kenya, it could have been the third most populated in the country, according to experts’ analysis.
Director General of the International Organization for Migration, William Swing says: “It is very difficult for you to send people back to Somalia. We have done some returns there [people] who wanted to go back, but there are only certain places that they could go to.”
He further stated that he had never seen such a huge number of [forced] repatriation in history and he has doubts on how such a big number could be pushed out so easily.
One man who has a different opinion from all others is former United Kingdom [UK] Foreign Secretary, David Milliband. Milliban, who is the president of the International Rescue Committee, says to the Guardian in UK: “Wealthy nations should accept the most vulnerable 10% of the world’s 19.5 million refugees.”
His statement could mean that European nations should brace up to accommodate more refugees from Africa and possibly the Middle East, an implication that most European countries will not be happy about.
At the moment there is a migration crisis in Europe, with more migrants moving in to Europe than ever. This has caused serious disagreements among European nations as to how much more migrants they should let in and how many they could turn down.
The Kenyan government could be looking to strike a deal to keep the refugees at Dadaab or will be happy to ship them somewhere else all together.
Dadaab refugee camp was set up in 1991 when the Somalia war broke out. It was meant to be a temporary camp for refugees that cross over the border. But the camp is now home to close to 350,000 Somali refugees.
Do you know that?
- Dadaab is the biggest refugee camp in the world, with very close to 350,000 inhabitants.
- Kenya’s economy benefits up to 14 million dollars per year in refugee run businesses. That forms 25% of the capita per income in the North Eastern part of the country.
- There are 60 million displaced people scattered all across the world.
- One in every 122 people in the world is displaced.
- This is the largest migration crisis in the world since the Second World War.
Fuel crisis set to worsen in oil rich Nigeria
One of the leading producers of oil in Africa and the wider world are bracing up for a major strike action as a result of a sharp hike in fuel prices.
Early May the Nigerian government decided to cut down of fuel subsidy and this automatically increased the pump price of petroleum products by a third. Labour unions, trade unions and other stakeholders in the energy industry have expressed grave dissatisfaction over the move and they are set to strike on Tuesday 18th May, 2016.
Nigerians are preparing for the worst, with most people buying essentials and food stuffs throughout the weekend.
Nigeria’s economy has taken a hit as a result of the sharp deduction in crude oil price in the world market. This has left the economy with serious shortage of foreign currency to pay for it much needed fuel price.
At the moment there are at least 75 ships with two and a half million tons of fuel waiting on Nigerian water for importers in the country to order in. Most of the sailors have grown tired and there are reports that they are looking for buyers in other countries.
In a country where fuel is a political commodity, such crisis could escalate in to a whole new political drama.
Nigeria is an oil producing country; in fact they are the biggest producers of oil in the continent after Angola. But over the years a huge portion of their fuel has to be imported, partly because the country does not have the necessary infrastructure to convert the crude oil in to fuel for consumers and because of the growing instability of the Niger Delta Region, the oil producing region in the country.
Did you know that?
- Nigeria consumes 45 million liters of gasoline a day, that is roughly 280,000 barrels.
- Nigerian oil market produces 18 million dollars per day for fuel consumption.
- The West African country’s production of oil dropped this month from 2.2 million barrels per day to 1.65 million barrels.
Ugandan opposition charged with treason
Uganda’s main opposition leader, Kizzy Besigye has been charged with treason after holding a mock swearing-in ceremony posing as the President of Uganda.
He was arrested last week Wednesday and his lawyers say he was denied any legal representation in court before he was hauled in to prison. Besigye has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times by the Museveni administration.
He was the main challengers of President Yweri Museveni in the last election and has always been a vocal critic of Museveni’s presidency.
The recently concluded election was tightly contested between Museveni and Besigye, but the incumbent Museveni was officially declared the winner through a landslide victory.
The decision of the electoral body to declare Museveni as the president was challenged by Besigye in the Supreme Court but he lost the appeal. Since the election, security forces in the country have initiated a crack down on opposition supporters and leaders across the country.
Museveni has been sworn in last Thursday for his fifth consecutive term and he is set to rule past his 30 year reign over the east African country.
Did you know that?
- Museveni has spent more time in power than how long Sierra Leone’s democracy [since 1996] has lasted.
- The year Museveni rose to power, Barrack Obama was a community organizer in Chicago [1986].
- The old man is set to rule in to hit fourth decade as president. One of the longest serving presidents on the continent.
(C) Politico 17/05/16
