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Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 24, 2009 – Immigration
officials in Somaliland have expressed concern over the increase in the
number of illegal Ethiopian migrants entering the region, with claims
that up to 90 people are arriving daily, against 50 in 2008.
An immigration official, who requested anonymity, said most of those
arriving in Somaliland were asylum-seekers from the Oromiya region of
Ethiopia. Others transit through Somaliland en route to the Arabian
Peninsula.
The exact number of Ethiopian refugees in Somaliland is unclear as the
region's authorities and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, have different
figures.
Mohamed Ismail, the director of social affairs in the Ministry of
Interior - charged with overseeing refugee affairs and asylum-seekers –
said: "We consider 4,000 individuals as Ethiopian refugees but all the
other people who live in Somaliland are not refugees; [they have] come
to Somaliland for a better life."
According to UNHCR Somalia, Somaliland has 1,600 Ethiopian refugees and
more than 14,000 asylum-seekers.
"UNHCR has the responsibility of engaging in strong information
campaigns targeting Ethiopians on their right to seek asylum if they are
fleeing persecution in their country and of the rights they have as
refugees," Roberta Russo, a spokeswoman for the agency, told IRIN on 22
October.
However, a source in the Ministry of Interior said the last estimate by
the ministry and UNHCR in 2006 was that at least 8,000 Ethiopian
refugees were in Somaliland.
Saleban Ismail Bulale, chairman of the Horn of Africa Human Rights
Organization, based in Hargeysa, said: "UNHCR has granted refugee status
to only 1,500, but it is estimated that there are thousands of
Ethiopians in Somaliland."
Living on the streets
Asha Abdi, an Ethiopian mother of six living on the streets of Hargeysa,
told IRIN: "My children and I left our home in Babuli town in Ethiopia's
Oromiya Region several months ago; we came because we had suffered lack
of food for a long time."
Hers is one of several Ethiopian families trying to survive on
Hargeysa’s streets. "We live in the shade of local houses and beg for
food to survive," Asha said.
An Ethiopian official, who requested anonymity, told IRIN it seemed the
UNHCR office in Hargeysa was encouraging asylum-seekers to enter
Somaliland.
"Ethiopians emigrate to Somaliland in search of a better life; for
example, they want to be relocated to a foreign country. You see them
coming here and then going back to their homes after registering with
the UNHCR office in Hargeysa as asylum-seekers," the official said.
"When their time comes for their relocation, they come back to
Hargeysa."
However, Russo said UNHCR did everything possible to inform the refugees
of their rights and to ensure the protection mechanisms put in place
were not abused.
In very few cases, she said, UNHCR offered the option of resettlement to
a third country if the refugees faced insecurity in the country of
asylum or if it was impossible for them to integrate. Russo added that
this opportunity was offered to the most needy cases.
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Source: IRIN, October 23, 2009
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