1 1 Wolfgang Taucher – Mathias Vogl – Peter Webinger SOMALIA 1 Security, Minorities & Migration SOMALIA Security, Minorities & Migration Security, Minorities & Migration Security, www.bmi.gv.at www.staatendokumentation.at SOMALIA ISBN 978-3-9503643-0-9 20YEARS Wolfgang Taucher – Mathias Vogl – Peter Webinger SOMALIA Security, Minorities & Migration Imprint Publishers Wolfgang Taucher I Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior Mathias Vogl I Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior Peter Webinger I Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, Herrengasse 7, 1014 Vienna; +43-1-53126; [email protected] Editors Alexander Schahbasi I Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior Thomas Schrott I Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior Collaborators Andreas Tiwald, Dina Latek, Gerald Dreveny, Sarah Kratschmayr I Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior Layout Astrid Richter I Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior Print Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior ISBN 978-3-9503643-0-9 Disclaimer The content of this publication was researched and edited with utmost care. 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Reproduction and distribution in any possible way – for commercial and non-commercial usage – are prohibited without prior written permission by the publishers. © 2013 Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior Contents Foreword I Wolfgang Taucher, Mathias Vogl, Peter Webinger .................. 5 Introduction I Roland Marchal ...................................... 7 Andreas Tiwald The Security Situation in Somalia .................................15 Markus Höhne Minorities in Somalia ..........................................63 Martin Hofmann, David Reichel Migration from Somalia to Europe – A Statistical Overview .........................................87 Gerald Tatzgern Irregular Somali Migration to Austria and Europe ...........................................99 Alex P. Schmid, Nico Prucha, Matthew Allatin The Al-Shabaab movement ....................................105 Foreword An increasing number of Somali refugees in Europe led to the need of taking a closer look at the situation in Somalia and the forces at work in this war-torn country. The Country of Origin Information Unit of the Austrian Federal Asylum Office has long focused and closely followed the situation in Somalia and even had an analyst on the ground to assess the situation. Based on this continuous work, we decided to publish this anthology, drawing on the vast expertise of experts from various backgrounds. Andreas Tiwald, the head Somalia analyst at the Country of Origin Information Unit provides a detailed overview of the current security environment in the country. Markus Höhne, a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale, Germany, describes the situation of minorities in Somalia. To get a better understanding of migration flows – both legal and illegal – the volume fea- tures contributions from Martin Hofmann and David Reichel, both researchers at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), as well as Gerald Tatzgern, head of the Central Service for Combating Human Smuggling/Human Trafficking at the Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service. An in-depth analysis of Al- Shabaab by Alex P. Schmid (Director of the Terrorism Research Initiative, TRI), Nico Prucha (TRI Research Associate), and Matthew Allatin (TRI Research Assistant) adds to the understanding of the structure of this movement and its role in the ongoing power struggle. Roland Marchal, researcher at CERI (a joint research unit of Sciences Po and the CNRS) contributed an introduction and thoughts on the current deve- lopments. This anthology is to serve as a backgrounder for those working in the field of asylum and migration, as well as anyone with an interest in the state of affairs in the country. The book aims at contributing toward a better understanding of Somalia and serves as a sound basis for the analysis of current developments. Wolfgang Taucher Mathias Vogl Peter Webinger Director of the Federal Director-General for Deputy Director-General Asylum Office Legal Affairs for Legal Affairs Austrian Federal Ministry Austrian Federal Ministry Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior of the Interior of the Interior 5 Introduction Introduction Roland Marchal This set of articles intends to provide an overview of conditions that constitute push factors in Somali migrations. The views are those of the authors, not of the institution that publish them. The views expressed here also are not always shared by all authors. Of course, the focus is on political and social oppressions that may justify migrations, while more usual motivations are not considered. As an academic researching on Somalia for more than two decades, I read them with recurrent questions in mind. Two of them are worth mentioning here. The first question is what would have happened, had the Somali civil war not transformed itself or evolved into a component of this Global War on Terror that reframed the diplomatic agenda after 9/11. The second is whether this crisis is going to end soon or, notwithstanding the impressive resilience of the Somali population, whether this crisis would only be concluded when global parameters change. The time framework for any analysis is a question that deserves quite some justi- fication. For instance, migrations to overseas in Somalia started long ago and got a significant push after 1973 at the time of the first oil crisis and Somalia’s membership to the Arab League (in 1974). Those migrations followed patterns that were already in place: urban Somalis, better educated than the average population, were trying to find a better living or remit money in the Gulf States. In the early 1980s, those patterns changed drastically, a transformation that was not only connected to the fluctuations of oil prices but also to a new Friendship Agreement with Italy: mig- rants were no longer in majority from urban background but were people from the countryside or had very recently and for a short period settled in the peripheries of the capital city. The gender balance of those migrants was not as before as females constituted a growing proportion. To a large extent, the civil war provided further justification for those patterns of migration, except that Europe had made conditions to settle much harder. Italy itself became an ambivalent site for refugees: it was still relatively open but migrants had no access to welfare of any kind, which made their stay increasingly difficult except for women who were willing and able to work for old dependent Italians. As reflected in the analyses provided here by Martin Hofman, David Reichel, and Gerald 7 Introduction Tatzgern, Somalis shifted their habits quite quickly and efficiently tried to settle in northern European countries, UK, and Scandinavian countries. One should add that Somali migrants were not only challenging “Fortress Euro- pe” since they found their way to Australia, New Zealand, South East Asian countries and, of course, the USA. This would add one more question to those raised by the description provided by the authors: Somalis joke about their nomadic habit and it would be interesting to look at their strategy of resettlement once they have already reached a European/western country… In those years, the main argument for migration was political coercion and/or social marginality. As Markus Höhne describes in his chapter, the discourse on mi- norities could be mobilized differently by asylum seekers because indeed the social configuration of the Somali society was much more complex than most foreigners often thought or knew, because indeed people who could not refer to powerful alliances were potential targets for any military entrepreneurs and, eventually also, because protecting minorities resonated positively with western ethics. There is no study known to this author on whether these reasons for asylum were in all cases justified and supported by hard evidence and it will be interesting to review all those narratives at one point. This is not to say that “minorities” were not potentially easy targets but social bonds were often not restricted