Most of these refugees who have escaped the pain of death and have lodged in Eastliegh complain of harassment from Kenya police.
AfricaNews reporter Muhyadin Ahmed Roble took time to investigate the allegation and chronicles the situation of the refugees in Eastliegh.
“I was hoping that Kenya will be my rest place and the end of fear but all my hope failed. I am still in trouble and unsafe,” said Ayan Omar, a 17-year-old Somali refugee living in Eastleigh, Nairobi.
Ayan who fled from Somalia in 2007 lives with her family in this estate, where police men always stand at the public place such as restaurants and shops to extort and detain Somalis indiscriminately.
On 26 of July, non-uniform police men seized her with other two handcuffed women at about 12 am.
“They released four young men after paying money but one of them refused to leave us. They beat him till he run away,” Ayan told AfricaNews.
‘Useless papers’
The four non-uniform police men asked them to pay money for their release but the expatriates had nothing on them except their documents proving their refugee status. The police christened the documents as “useless papers”.
Ayan said the men threatened to arrest and deport them to Mogadishu if they did not come with what they called “Maslaha” meaning “solutions”.
“They took us to a dark place. A girl started shouting but the men covered her mouth with a heavy black hijab. Two men took her away, we don’t know what happened to her and we have not seen again,” she said while trembling and stammering.
Female refugees are not having it easy in their second home and have been objects of abuse and exploitation.
“The remaining two non-uniformed police men ordered us to be silent. And they began to abuse us. But luckily as the ordeal was ongoing, we saw a car light. We shouted ‘help, they are raping us,'” Ayan said.
Three men arrived on the scene and after some arguments the police managed to extort 2000 Ksh from them to release the girls.
“For close to a week I had nightmares. I didn’t come out for fear of my life. Some times when I see a police man I almost faint,” added Ayan with wounds on her face. AfricaNews spoke to a number of ladies who underwent a similar ordeal.
Human Rights Watch has already accused Kenyan police of rape, beatings and arbitrary detention of Somalis when they cross the border.
Urban refugee
Asad Abdi Mohamed, a 22-year-old, fled from Mogadishu in 2009 after Islamist rebel group of Al-Shabaab asked him to join their war against Somali government. UNHCR recognized him as an urban refugee in April this year.
Abdi has been detained and money extorted from him three times by Kenya police since April. He said they once intercepted him as he was carrying 2300 Ksh meant to rent a room in May.
“I showed them my refugees status but they didn’t listen,” Abdi told AfricaNews.
“I was shocked and very nervous as they ordered me to enter a taxi. When we got near Pangani police station they insisted I gave them what I had. I tried giving them 300 KSH but they insisted for all.
“They accused me of theft because of hiding some of my money. Finally, they took all my money with 500 Ksh from my roommate,” said Abdi.
“The police stop you and take your money, and say ‘You are Al-Shabaab.’ They enter your house and rape you, and say ‘You are Al-Shabaab. I fled from the pain of the death to the pain of harassment,” he added.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said they are aware of reports of police abuses of refugees in Nairobi. The Agency has already documented abuses of Somalis in Dadaab refugee Camp.
Ben Rawlence, Researcher with Human Rights Watch told AfricaNews that HRW has raised the issue with the Minister of Internal Security, Professor George Saitoti.
“The police have a duty to protect all persons equally, to treat refugees with respect and to discipline any officer found guilty of abusing a civilian,” said Rawlence.
But the deputy police spokesman Charles Owino said that people should report any harassment to the police station which Somali refugees are not doing.
“People in Eastleigh rarely report harassment and we are not angels to know what people are going through. They must report to the police stations,” said Owino.
A Somali bussiness man said most of the harrassed refugees are young people who don’t have any idea about how to report to the police stations.
“They haven’t seen any administration or police station before coming here. They could not go to the police station for fear. They think that none could accuse a police man in a uniform.”
Source: news24.com