UNHCR urges all states to give Somalis a refuge
The United Nations refugee agency called on Saudi Arabia on Friday to halt expulsions of Somalis to Mogadishu, rebuking the kingdom for deporting 1,000 a month by aircraft to the violent capital.
Neighboring countries should offer legal residence to Somali workers and asylum-seekers until it is safe to return to Mogadishu, where civilians are often targeted in the fighting between Somali forces and Islamist al Shabaab rebels, it said.
"Given the deadly violence in Mogadishu, UNHCR is urging the Saudi authorities to refrain from future deportations on humanitarian grounds," Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing.
Saudi authorities have told the UNHCR that they are deporting Somalis who have been staying in the country illegally, according to U.N. sources.
UNHCR said a week ago that Somali refugees were taken to Kenya and the semi-autonomous enclave of Puntland following deadly bombings by Al Shabaab in Uganda. Authorities in Puntland have also been deporting Somalis, but so far Kenya has not, it said.
Al Shabaab vies to topple Somalia’s government
Al Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, controls much of southern Somalia bordering Kenya and is fighting to topple the Western-backed government in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
Saudi Arabia deported 1,000 Somalis in June and nearly 1,000 so far in July, Fleming said.
Most deportees say they fled Somalia due to conflict, violence and human rights abuses, according to reports received from its local NGOs.
The UNHCR said earlier this month that many of the 200,000 who fled their homes this year were trapped in the country as routes out became increasingly dangerous.
Saudi Arabia has not signed up to the international refugee convention but UNHCR said all countries should extend some form of international protection to fleeing Somalis because they could not go home safely.
The agency is discussing joint screening of Somali refugees with Saudi authorities.
About half a million Somalis have sought refuge abroad, mainly fleeing in neighboring east African countries and across the sea to Yemen.
There are now 600,484 Somali refugees, mainly in Kenya, Yemen, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tanzania and Uganda, plus 1.4 million Somalis displaced within the country, it says.
Source: GENEVA (UN gencies)
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