Rift Valley Institute Briefing Paper August 2014 RIGHTS & REPRESENTATION A safe haven for Somalis in Uganda? By Gianluca Iazzolino Key points • There are growing numbers of Somali migrants in Uganda, where a Somali community has existed since colonial times. • Changes in the wider pattern of migration among Somalis in East Africa are driven by pressure on Somali refugees in Kenya and a more favourable legal framework for refugees in Uganda. • Ugandan security forces and Somali community leaders share intelligence to minimize the risk of attacks on Ugandan troops in Somalia and of terrorism in The Horn of Africa (BBC) Uganda. in neighbouring Kenya. Once they reached the • Uganda has emerged as a haven where border, they re-applied for refugee status in Somalis can accrue financial, legal and Uganda. Others have applied as refugees in educational assets which facilitate Uganda for the first time, after illegally venturing physical and social mobility. through Kenya from Somalia. This number does • As the Somali community in Uganda has not include Somalis with foreign and Somali expanded business has grown, and clan- passports based in or regularly travelling to based Somali student unions have Uganda. emerged where political aspirations are This briefing examines the emergence of the cultivated. Somali migration route to Uganda and its significance in the long history of Somali migration in East Africa. It discusses the factors underlying Introduction the decision-making processes of Somali refugees in relation to cross-border movement. And it asks In recent years, a growing number of Somali whether the Somali flows to Uganda are a short- refugees have moved to Uganda, settling in some term trend in response to a deterioration in living areas of the capital Kampala or in the Nakivale conditions and security in Kenya—the main refugee camp, located in the south of the country. recipient of Somali displaced people since the According to Uganda's Office of the Prime Minister collapse of the Somali state in 1991—or whether (OPM), the main administrative body which deals they are part of a larger phenomenon, the with refugee affairs, the number of registered formation of a diaspora with a longer time horizon. Somali refugees in the country increased to 41,515 The new pattern of mobility may reflect an idea of in the year to March 2014. The influx rose from mobility not only as a coping strategy, but also as 27,143 in December 2012 and 8,239 in 2008. 1 The an investment of resources in the expectation of a overwhelming majority were previously refugees return. This return can take the shape of assets— Rift Valley Institute | Nairobi Forum | Briefing Paper | A New Home in Uganda| August 2014 | Page 2 of 9 legal documents such as identity cards and providing an overview of Somali mobility across academic qualifications, but also hard currency East Africa and of the deterioration of Somali derived from business opportunities—which refugees’ living conditions in Kenya. Next, it enables both physical and social mobility. Indeed, describes the Somali presence in Uganda, briefly the dynamics informing the pattern of movement retracing its historical origins and the development examined here relate not only to security needs of Kisenyi, as a new ‘Little Mogadishu’ in the heart but also to aspirations and desires in a of the Kampala. Then, it narrows the focus on the multifaceted Somali refugee populations of current situation, analysed in the light of the legal entrepreneurs and prospective students. framework which regulates the rights of refugees in Uganda, and on the heterogeneous—in terms of This analysis of the growing Somali diaspora in aspirations and legal status—population which Uganda thus questions assumptions about conflict- makes up the Somali diaspora in urban Uganda, related displacement, suggesting that they may with a focus on students and businesspeople. oversimplify the phenomenon by adopting a Eventually, it discusses the implications of this monolithic view of refugees. growing Somali presence in Uganda for Somalia. New patterns of movement Somali mobility in historical perspective Somali migration across East Africa is not a new 2 Mobility is often considered a deeply ingrained phenomenon. The novelty of this steady influx to feature of the Somali culture and society, and is Uganda lies in the key drivers of migration at still used in defining current coping strategies.4 regional level: the growing pressure on Somali Most literature derives this argument from the refugees in Kenya, where state security concerns pastoralist livelihoods practiced since pre-colonial have increasingly permeated public discourse on times by Somali-speaking groups moving through refugee issues; Uganda's ‘progressive and human 3 the dry lands of the Horn of Africa in search of rights oriented’ refugee legal framework, based pastures and sources of water for their herds. on the 2006 Refugee Act and implemented in However, over time, others from the Somali 2010; and ease of access to neighbouring areas, territories, mainly from urban coastal areas, have particularly the Uganda–Democratic Republic of pursued different migration projects, embedded in the Congo (DRC) borderland, Rwanda and, until colonial armies or as seafarers, students or recent upheavals, South Sudan, where fresh labourers in the Gulf oil industry in the 1970s.5 business opportunities have drawn the interest of Other communities, particularly those settled resourceful refugees. But also to Somalia, thanks along the rivers Jubba and Shebelle and living off to direct flights connecting Entebbe to Mogadishu farming or small-scale livestock keeping, have a and to a visa policy which allows Somali passport- very limited history of mobility, at least prior to the holders to re-enter Uganda. outbreak of the Somali conflict in 1991. However, These drivers define the socio-political landscape at the regional level, nomadic groups have through which Somali refugees navigate, according established a broad presence, throughout the to individual skills and aspirations but also pre- colonial partition of the region and the subsequent existing configurations of power, often based on independence period. Since the Republic of clan. As this briefing argues, in recent years Somalia was born out of the merger of British Uganda has become at one time a safe haven in Somaliland and Somalia Italiana, irredentist claims troubled times and a place where many refugees over the Somali population scattered across from Somalia wait for resettlement to a third Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya have affected regional country, advance their education, manage their relations, resulting in tensions and wars, most business in the region and closely follow Somalia's notable the 1963 Shifta Wars, still haunting Kenyan winding path to recovery. relations with Somali citizens. At the same time, clan affiliations across state borders have proved a This briefing first describes the background against critical safety net in troubled times. This aspect which this Somali route to Uganda has emerged, Rift Valley Institute | Nairobi Forum | Briefing Paper | A New Home in Uganda| August 2014 | Page 3 of 9 became particularly significant as the Somali state on trade, tax evasion, smuggling and regional began to crumble during the 1980s and eventually connections’.7 collapsed in 1991. Mass displacements initially occurred in the northern regions, ravaged by the Pressure mounts war between the central government and the Somali National Movement (SNM), and eventually Since the onset of the Somali conflict, advocacy to central and southern Somalia, following the organizations have criticized the Kenyan overthrow of Somali president Siad Barre and the authorities for the treatment of Somali refugees.8 eruption of an internecine conflict. Despite the political prominence acquired by many Somali Kenyans during the Kibaki presidency The ensuing humanitarian crisis displaced scores of (2002-2013), the business success of the Somali people, who crossed into Kenya and sought shelter diaspora in Kenya made refugees increasingly in humanitarian camps or urban centres. In appealing to corrupt police, who indiscriminately general, refugees without resources headed targeted their victims as ‘walking ATMs’. towards the camps while those who were able to Moreover, the degradation of security in Somalia secure their properties in advance or could rely on following the Ethiopian invasion in 2006 that kin in Kenya resettled in urban centres. A major continued to displace people, the rise of al- pole of attraction was Nairobi's Eastleigh suburb. Shabaab, its regional threat and growing insecurity Previously a residential area for Indian and Somali in the borderlands and in the Dadaab refugee Kenyans, the neighbourhood has acquired a complex, increased the risk of a spill over of the distinct Somali identity during the 1990s, to the Somali conflict into Kenya. Following a number of point of being dubbed 'Little Mogadishu'. The attacks against Kenyan police, foreign steady flow of refugees initially fostered a humanitarian workers and tourists, the Kenyan hospitality economy, drawing a growing number of government launched Operation Linda Nchi Somali Kenyans and Somalis from the diaspora, but (Protect the Country) in October 2011, officially to also Kenyans and ethnic Oromo and Borana. As strike al-Shabaab strongholds in southern Somalia many refugees were granted resettlement to a and prevent terrorist infiltrations into Kenya. third country, money