A place of refuge for people in despair

No jobs allowed

Dadaab refugee camp is not a camp at all, but an expanding community without productivity or means to sustain itself.

If refugees stay put in Kenya, integrating into local society is not possible. The Kenyan government's encampment policy forbids refugees from having gainful employment or moving freely around the country, although small markets and herds can be found in the camp.

"In Ugandan refugee camps, refugees are normally allocated a small piece of land to be self-reliant. But here, they have no land to grow crops," said Lydia Wamala, information officer of the food program's Uganda office.

Katima Abdi and her husband have been living in Dagahaley area for 22 years. They arrived alone, but now have five children.

"We have tried to find work to do but there is no chance at all," she said. "My husband went insane a few year ago because of our hard situation."

 

Security

Twenty years ago, Hassad Aigale was a 6-year-old local boy living in Dadaab with his parents, and he says the town was a simple and peaceful place. Now he works for UNHCR at the reception center in Ifo camp.

He says the huge number of refugees in his hometown have brought some "negative implications", because locals and refugees are sharing the same land, the same resources and the same environment. Robberies, murders and kidnappings occur in the camps, he said, and locals are particularly concerned about security.

Under severe pressure from various sides, the Kenyan government established a refugee affairs department to take more control of what is happening in its own territory. The UNHCR and Kenya's Department of Refugee Affairs jointly staff the reception desk.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, speaking at the United Nations on Sept 20, called on the international community to assist the Somalis in their country. That would curb the flood of refugees, as well as undesirable elements, to his country.

In the middle of October, Kenya sent troops across the border to pursue the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab and clashed with them inside Somalia for the first time, according to British Broadcasting Corp. Somalia's president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, opposed the incursion, and al-Shabab has threatened reprisal attacks in Kenya.

The worst drought in 60 years is a significant contributor to the influx of refugees, but the root cause is Somalia's dire security situation. That is why this camp was built in 1991 - refugees had already settled there - when the civil war broke out in Somalia.

 

No comment

Even though they have migrated and settled down in the camp, refugees are unwilling to comment on the situation back home. They say that the fight between al-Shabaab and the Transitional Federal Government did not affect their decision to leave Somalia.

"Of course they are afraid of talking about the al-Shabaab in the camp, because no one knows if your neighbor or friend is one of them," said a UN camp security official who wished to remain anonymous.

Several killings in the camp are thought to have been revenge by al-Shabaab against informers. "Although there is still no convincing evidence to prove these allegations, the security situation in the camp is serious now," the official said.

For Katima Abdi, the longtime camp resident, there are only two choices: to wait for resettlement by UNHCR to Western countries such as the US, Canada and in Europe, or to return home when "peace comes to Somalia".

How likely is the second option? "From the overwhelming new arrivals everyday," she said, "I know things are deteriorating in Somalia."