Now is the right time to settle question of Somalia’s refugees

Somali refugees at the Dagahaley Refugee Camp in Kenya. The primary responsibility for the welfare of Somali refugees belongs to the transitional government in Mogadishu and I have seen it play that role with pride and joy. PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The biggest reason for being in Somalia is to stabilise and secure that country for the benefit of its people and to ensure that insecurity does not spill over into our own nation.
  • State collapse in Somalia has persisted for a quarter of a century and has defied the very best efforts to end it. It is probably a much bigger problem than we appreciate.
  • I think there is a powerful case for resettling in Kenya of a number of refugees and giving them Kenyan nationality in accordance with the Constitution.

The slaughter of Kenyan troops at El Adde in January was a turning point in Kenya-Somalia relations.

While it was a big victory for Al-Shabaab, it may well turn out to be less so for ordinary citizens of the Federal Republic of Somalia whose desire is normal relations across the border.

It was a deadly humiliation for the Kenyan security sector. I am not sure there is a great deal of the milk of “African brotherhood” left in the breasts of Kenyan generals who run the military.

But even more pervasive is the message sent to ordinary Kenyans like myself, to the families of the troops deployed in Somalia, and the taxpayers who support the military.

When we saw the bodies of those young boys, crumpled like rag dolls in their little flak jackets, their heads missing from their helmets because they had been blown off with large calibre weapons at close quarters, when we saw those hooded folks dancing on the blood of our children, glorying so happily in their death, we all got thinking.

We have no factories, mines, or farms in Somalia. There is not a large population of Kenyans living in Somalia.

About the only direct benefit we get from being in that country is a bit of charcoal stolen by our troops and when a couple of barons in northeastern Kenya and the Coast are able to smuggle sugar into the country.

The biggest reason for being in Somalia is to stabilise and secure that country for the benefit of its people and to ensure that insecurity does not spill over into our own nation.

This objective has failed. We have not stabilised Somalia and insecurity continues to flow on to our side of the border.

Since I have previously been insensitive in my comments about Somalia, I try to be cautious and lean over backwards to be generous and fair in my thinking about this problem.

So my initial reaction to the government’s decision to close Dadaab and send everybody home was: What?

RISKFACTORS

What about the poor children and women and old people who are caught up in this war and who are as much of victims of Al-Shabaab as the rest of us?

But two other facts have given me a non-humanitarian perspective. One is the clan cleavage that jihadism in Somalia appears to be taking.

There is an increasing likelihood that the radical wing of the Hawiye clan is allying itself to Al-Qaeda while the Degodia are gravitating towards IS.

This internationalises the conflict in Somalia in a dramatic way and integrates Somali jihadists even more in conflicts in the Middle East.

The same clans in Somalia are also here, people have relatives and neighbours across the border. The risk of their heightened conflict ending up within our borders is real.

The views of Gen James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, in a Washington Post interview provided a perspective on terrorism that many of us obviously do not have.

He was talking about the capture of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, by Iraqi forces from IS, which has controlled it for two years.

He said it would take a long time and be “very messy”. He also said that terrorism would continue long after IS and Al-Qaeda are defeated in Iraq and Syria.

His analysis is that the conditions that create radicalisation in Muslim societies — such as a large populations of disaffected youths, poverty, and weak government — will persist for many years and they are not problems that the US can fix.

“We’ll be in a perpetual state of suppression for a very long time,” he told the Washington Post. Gen Clapper, 75, has been in the intelligence business for 53 years.

State collapse in Somalia has persisted for a quarter of a century and has defied the very best efforts to end it. It is probably a much bigger problem than we appreciate.

Secondly, there exists in our country conditions dangerous to our own security and stability.

EMBRACING REFUGEES

Even as we participate in looking for solutions to problems facing our neighbours — and we have a responsibility to do that — let us not forget our own.

The people of Somalia need the support of a committed coalition of international partners, not just a few African countries, to rebuild their country.

Which brings me back to the elephant in the room. I think the government should listen to the people of Somalia, and they are saying: Please allow us to deal with our own problems.

The government has an obligation to obey international humanitarian law.

I think there is a powerful case for resettling in Kenya of a number of refugees and giving them Kenyan nationality in accordance with the Constitution.

But the primary responsibility for the welfare of Somali refugees belongs to the transitional government in Mogadishu and I have seen it play that role with pride and joy.

Those poor people cannot live in camps for more than 25 years; they should have permanent homes.

Take them home to the areas cleared of Al-Shabaab, resettle them, and help their government to protect them until they find their feet. In the end, this is the best solution for all concerned. 

[email protected]. Twitter: @mutuma_mathiu