By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – Illegal immigrants are set for difficult times in the country.
According to the interior minister Hon Mohamed Nuur Arale ‘Duur’ all persons residing illegally in the country will face the music once the planned registration of citizens and aliens is complete.
The essence of the registration is to establish clear distinction between citizens and foreigners thus expose persons entering and living in the country illegally thus enhance security and health in the country”
While this is a long overdue exercise in the country, where people enter, live and exit without following international norms it also comes at a time when the government is under international coercion to stop the deportation of foreigners especially the Oromo’s of Ethiopia.
As per the deportation the Human Rights watch-HRW has issued a statement accusing the government of Rounding up and deporting asylum seekers wantonly.
The HRW statement issued deputy Africa director Leslie Lefkow, which cautioned the government against The Rounding up and deporting asylum seekers, said that thus is not the way to treat vulnerable people seeking Somaliland’s protection and advised local authorities to instead ensure that Ethiopian asylum seekers are registered and given the protection and assistance to which they are entitled.
The cause of the reaction by HRW was last week’s unconfirmed reports of the interior ministry having deported a large number of Ethiopians who had been camped at the Refugee Centre-RC run by UNHCR in Hargeisa.
The aliens both registered and unregistered who camped at the Refugee Centre from last October, and as their numbers increased on a daily basis thus overflowing the RC had occupied an adjacent private property, denying the plot owner space to build a family house.
According to the police commissioner Abdilahi Fadal Iman, a number of the Ethiopians are in custody after they attacked and injured 11 police officers who armed with a court order had been on a peaceful mission to ensure they vacated the private plot.
“One of the injured police officer is still in a coma that ensued after he was hit repeatedly with an assortment of metals during the uneventful ordeal at Hargeisa’s Sha’ab area,” Said commissioner Fadal
On the other hand, the purported victims of brutality and deportation say they were camped at the RC in protest against withdrawal of stipends formerly paid by UNHCR as well as prolonged delays in processing their request for asylum.
The Somalilandsun could not verify this claim with the UNHCR.
The ministry of Interior has on various occasions tried to have the refugees and illegal migrants vacate the refugee centre to no vain and earlier this year 20 of their leaders were arrested and transported to the Wajale border town where they were told not return to the country.
This action elicited a big outcry from international organizations notably the HRW-GB and the shady Oromia Support Group-OSG, which is the official fundraiser for the terrorist Oromo Liberation Front. The chief honcho of the OSG is Briton Dr. Trevor Trueman who has continuously accused Somaliland authorities of mistreating not Ethiopians but Oromo’s.
Following a mission in Somaliland purportedly to chronicle the brutality against Oromo’s by the state with facilitation of Somalilandsun Dr Trueman who was severely injured in land-mine explosion when crossing border illegally into Ethiopia in company of OLF terrorists in 1989-90, released a false report castigating the government.
Follow these links See the profile of Trueman and his false reports
http://www.oromo.org/cv-publications-dr-trevor-trueman.html and http://www.oromo.org/
Somalilandsun is privy to information that the twenty purportedly deported to Ethiopia are in fact currently at a refugee camp in Djibouti from where this writer had met five of them on August 7/2012.
According to the minister of interior Hon Duur Arale, asylum seekers are welcome into the country as long as they follow procedures and observe the law
While Mixed migrants should not be criminalized they need to ensure that they follow established norms while entering other countries not to mention that international organizations and individuals like Dr Trevor Trueman should possess factual information before making baseless accusations.
