UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency

• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

The State of the World's Refugees 2006 - Chapter 5 Protracted refugee situations: Box 5.3 The story of one Somali refugee in Dadaab, Kenya

State of the World's Refugees, 19 April 2006

More than 2 million refugees in Africa are trapped in protracted situations. One of them is a young Somali student named Abass Hassan Mohamed.

Abass is the second of six children. His family and some 300,000 other people fled to Kenya in the midst of the violent implosion of Somalia in 1991-92. He was only ten years old when he fled his home. He says very little about his early days in the refugee camp, but remembers that it was dusty, hot and violent, and that people died daily.

Death and malnutrition rates in the Somali refugee population soared through 1992, while cross-border raids by Somali elements posed a significant security threat to refugees and aid workers. Malnutrition rates were as high as 54 per cent in some refugee camps. Death rates reached 100 a day per 100,000 refugees, five times the average level. At the same time, almost daily attacks by Somali bandits, known as shiftas, resulted in alarming numbers of murders and rapes.

Thirteen years later, Abass still lives in one of three remaining refugee camps near Dadaab in north-eastern Kenya, just 80 kilometres from the border with Somalia. The camps house some 135,000 other refugees. Abass' experience in Dadaab highlights the hardships faced by those trapped in forgotten refugee situations – but it also demonstrates the courage of individual refugees, the human potential they represent, and the dramatic difference when a solution to their plight is found.

In February 2004, Abass received his results from national secondary-school exams. Competing against students from across the country, Abass sat for exams in subjects as diverse as English, Chemistry, Commerce and Swahili, a language widely spoken in East Africa. His results were extraordinary. He ranked first in Kenya's Northeast Province and eighth in the whole of Kenya.

Although he does not brag, Abass overcame incredible odds to achieve this remarkable result. Of the 44 students in his class, only 32 graduated. His days were full of activities such as football, the debating club and the school environment club, but also with more demanding tasks such as standing in the blazing sun and 45-degree heat for hours to receive the family's fortnightly food rations. He tried to do his homework at night by the light of the family's only kerosene lamp, but his family often could not afford the fuel.

Abass learned to survive in one of the most violent camps in Africa, where rape, murder and armed robbery were almost daily occurrences. Physical and material insecurity have plagued the Dadaab camps for years. The refugees in these camps have existed with no legal status for well over a decade, compounding the challenge of finding a durable solution. In addition, they are required to remain within the camps and are, as a result, totally dependent on international assistance. This assistance is dwindling; refugees receive only 80 per cent of their food requirements and have limited access to water. Half the shelters in the camps are dilapidated.

Abass faced incredible challenges growing up as a refugee in Dadaab. He remained determined, however, not to let these difficulties get in his way. Throughout the long years in the camp, he tried to view his situation as temporary, and think instead of the day he would be able to leave to start a new life. Abass dreams of studying medicine. In a community with only one doctor for 135,000 people, he believes that is the best way to help his people.

Once again, Abass has beaten the odds and come one step closer to realizing his dream. In August 2005, he left Dadaab for the United States, where he will enrol at Princeton University with a full scholarship.

Abass is one of the very few Somali refugees in Dadaab who have found a solution to an otherwise protracted situation. He leaves behind a family and community whose future is far more uncertain. Given the prevailing insecurity in southern and central Somalia, the region of origin of many of the refugees in the Dadaab camps, there are no prospects for their repatriation in the foreseeable future. Their lack of legal status and the policies of the Kenyan government mean they are unable to support themselves – let alone integrate – locally. Finally, there have been extremely limited resettlement opportunities for ethnic Somalis from the Dadaab camps in recent years.

As a result of the lack of solutions, some 135,000 refugees in the Dadaab camps live in limbo. Abass is one of the lucky few who will be able to start afresh. The rest can do little more than wait, try to survive on rapidly dwindling international assistance, and pin their hopes on the international community to resolve their situation.

There are some signs of encouragement. A range of programmes introduced by UNHCR and its partners in the late 1990s have seen a dramatic decline in the level of violent crime in the camps. From a high of more than 300 incidents involving rape, murder and armed robbery in 1998, cases of serious crime fell to just 36 in 2003. There have also been some positive developments, albeit tentative, in the restoration of a central government in Somalia. Finally, there has been some revival of donor interest in formulating a comprehensive response to the situation of Somali refugees in the region as a whole.

However, these positive developments are just a beginning. Abass' story demonstrates the incredible challenges faced by refugees in protracted situations, the skills and abilities that these refugees possess, and their desire to play an active role in rebuilding their lives. With the sustained support of the international community, they may yet realize their dreams.

• Business
• Employment
• Donors
• Partners
• Refworld
• Statistics

• News Feed
• Accessiblity
• Privacy Policy

• What's New
• International versions
• Contact Us
• A-Z Index