Gabbal Posted October 19, 2006 Our people smell burning debris! A refugee awaiting registration at Liboi, an entry point in north-eastern Kenya, told the Nation in an interview: "I know that the Americans will soon come to fight and flush out the courts- We can't withstand any more bombardments." Kenya: Environment Crisis Looms As Somali Refugees Jam Daadab The Nation (Nairobi) October 17, 2006 Posted to the web October 17, 2006 Abdullahi Jamaa Nairobi Ms Maymuna Hajir stands next to a cold open hearth at the Daadab refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya, where she is likely to stay for much longer. She has been camping here for three weeks and has yet to get used to the tough conditions. With a two-year-old child strapped on her back, Ms Hajir, 40, is among the more than 30,000 Somali refugees the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has registered since January. In despair due to the turmoil in her motherland, she fled late last month hoping for a better - or at least more peaceful - life. During her 20-year stay at her home in the Mudug region, she had nursed the hope that one day there would be peace in her country. So the emergence of the Islamic Courts Union now ruling a large swathe of the war-ravaged country was the last straw that broke the camel's back. She vividly recalls how she endured the past decades in the Horn of Africa country that has known no order since the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre in the early 1990s. Home-grown militias "I had been living in my homeland Somalia all my life, including the past 15 years, when home-grown militias have been roaming to win the rat race," says Ms Hajir. "I decided to flee because there was no hope for peace. Maybe I will be a refugee for the rest of my life, and God forbid!" According to her, the situation in Somalia where the Islamists have taken control of the southern and central parts, including key ports, gives the impression that the fighting will not stop any time soon. Most of the Somalis fleeing their country as a result of the increased military activity say there is the possibility of a war on terror now that hard-line Islamists control a large swathe of the country with a population of about 10 million. A refugee awaiting registration at Liboi, an entry point in north-eastern Kenya, told the Nation in an interview: "I know that the Americans will soon come to fight and flush out the courts- We can't withstand any more bombardments." The latest arrivals also say they left because of rising tensions between armed groups, including the rivalry between the transitional national government and the Islamic Courts Union, which is advancing to expand its control. Several thousands of people The UN refugee agency warned of a dual crisis, with several thousands of people joining the human deluge across the border into Kenya to escape the fighting in the south. The situation in the impoverished Somalia poses great security, health and environmental challenges to the entire Horn, with arid north-eastern Kenya bearing the brunt of the instability. The residents, already hit by the recent ravaging drought, talk of a threat to the environment as another the influx of refugees continues. Some 130,000 refugees, most of them Somalis, have been living at the three Daadab camps since 1991. This is one of the largest camps in eastern and central Africa. Thousands of new ones fleeing from Somalia have jam-packed temporary reception centres set up by UNHCR on the border. "We are really concerned about the large number of refugees who continue to arrive everyday" says Mr Emmanuel Nyabera, a UNHCR spokesman in Nairobi. "As it is now, we are expanding the existing camps at Daadab, but if the number continues to rise, we will have to discuss the possibility of opening new camps." The expansion plan has prompted the demarcation of new areas. The large number of asylum seekers is a real threat to the environment, says Mr Ahmed Ali of in Wajir Town. The environment activist says that already, a large tract of rangeland and potential pasture have been destroyed as the immigrants cut down trees for firewood. "A new influx of refugees in the province would deal the area a deadly blow and worsen an already fragile environment," Mr Ali adds. Concern over war on terrorism on the part of the residents of the predominantly Muslim region is mounting each passing day. The war will most likely counter the activities of the Islamic courts in Mogadishu, whose leader Sheikh Dahir Aweys is on the US list of wanted people. A prolonged conflict "If that happens then a prolonged war in Somalia would only produce an Iraqi-style insurgency," says a Wajir resident. "And obviously we are the immediate neighbours to be affected." While the residents of north-eastern Kenya admit that humanitarian activities cannot be stopped, they say some refugees should be transferred to other parts of the country to avoid the overuse of the dry hinterland, which is already threatened by desertification. The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) is already warning of serious soil erosion and general environmental degradation in the eastern parts of Garissa and southern Wajir districts that border Daadab. The situation in Somalia has also raised security concerns in north-eastern Kenya. Already, scores of Kenyan security forces in armoured vehicles are stationed along the porous border. "Like Ethiopia and Eritrea, NEP is waking up to the instability in Somalia as it shares a long border with the war-torn nation," says another Wajir resident. But it looks as though North-Eastern Province will continue to shoulder the burden of the refugee crisis as long as the conflict in Somalia lasts. The media in Somalia are predicting that the fight will escalate as soon as a peacekeeping force is brought in. Islamists have declared a jihad (holy war) on Ethiopia and its allies, including the transitional federal government. A peaceful resolution Ethiopia wants to live in peace while on the other hand it wants the Somali population to live in racial wars, says Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the Islamist executive council leader, who accuses Ethiopia of interrupting a peaceful resolution. Currently, at the heart of the standoff is the conviction in the transitional federal government that Somalia's nationhood will be brought back if the peacekeeping force is deployed with the mandate to take on the Islamists. However, the courts' top officials, including Sheikhs Dahir Awes and Sharif Ahmed, oppose the deployment as they see it as a ploy to weaken their positions. In July and August, the Islamists took over large tracts of territory, and their militias marched on three regions in central Somalia - Hiran, Galgadud and parts of Mudug. As the situation in Somalia prevails, the likes of Ms Hajir are continuously losing hope. Thus, the international community should urgently intervene in what is shaping up to be worst conflict in eastern and central Africa. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted October 19, 2006 Fear is a terrible thing.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
