Today, we publish the first of a two-part series of an investigation by Star correspondent KASSIM MOHAMMED that took 44 days about how Somalis fleeing the endless conflict in South and Central Somalia find themselves living in squalor in Europe. Their dreams of a better life are shattered as they are locked up in detention centres, or forced to sleep out in the cold and the more adventurous seek solace in the hands of criminals.
Every year, thousands of troubled Somali immigrants travel through hostile terrains to escape the ravages of war back home. They embark on long, dangerous and seemingly endless journey unsure of what lies ahead of them. To keep them alive, they hope for the best and depend on prayer.
The dangerous voyage starts from their mundane homes in South and Central Somalia that will see them through landlocked Ethiopia, Sudan to the desolate red desert of Sahara in the politically sick Libya.
Many of these young Somalis go on to the next level of crossing-over to Italy and into other European countries like The Netherlands ostensibly to find a better life but that often turns tragic, sometimes worse than the daily death and destruction back at home in Somalia.
What they thought will be a good life in reality turns to be a hard-scrabbling survival when they find themselves inside cruel detention camps in one of Europe's developed countries.
In an investigation that took 44 days, The Star discovered that The Netherlands and other European nations like Italy are breaking the UNHCR request to take care of Somalis fleeing the two decades long conflict in South and Central Somalia.
Shariff Guled, "Return me home"
Cold and emaciated, 27-year-old Shariff Guled Aden loosely holds a trench coat together that has no buttons to shield him from the malevolent morning breeze emanating from the capricious weather of The Hague.
He lazily stands close to a popular Somali restaurant famously known as Hamar Caadey. Shariff is among a group of Somali asylum seekers who entered the Netherlands on February 26, 2008, but his ambitious and numerous attempts to seek refugee status in that European country has been hitting a dead end.
The only recourse to his endless trouble and vexation, he believes, is to return back to his home in Somalia as he struggles to seek out of the woods.
Much to his dismay, immigration authorities in The Netherlands simply told him to find his own way out, but he can't do that for himself and the young Somali man braves the harsh realities of living out in the cold sometimes in the most deplorable conditions. "I am so hungry. I have not eaten for two days and the reason as to why I came here is to see whether any of these guys who are chewing khat outside this restaurant will notice my plight. I can't beg them; I just hope one of them will understand my problem," says Shariff in a low-tone as if avoiding attention. The men hardly notice his presence.
After several hours of listening to other Somalis exchanging and cracking jokes as they munch away the leafy Khat (miraa), Shariff makes his way to a mosque nearby.
He is a staunch Muslim who never misses one of the compulsory five daily prayers. Yet today his main ambition is to try and find someone he knows in the mosque so that he can get some form of help. "Prayers are my way of relieving stress. I came and prayed but I was not lucky to find any Somali I know. I am holding on to faith that things will change. I have been through so much trouble in Somalia but hunger is the worst enemy." Shariff laments that the immigration authorities can do better by feeding those whose asylum attempts have failed like him.
His next destination is to Den Haag Central station; a busy railway station that has been his home for the last few months. He normally changes where he spends. "I sleep here on this cardboard box next to the concrete stairways that lead to the platforms. It's noisy and very uncomfortable but I have no choice. I wish they could return me to Mogadishu rather than make me face such hardships," says Shariff looking at an old Seiko 5 watch on his right wrist.
Shariff came to the Netherlands three years ago after fleeing the anarchy in his home country Somalia. His unbounded ambition of going to Europe came with a catalogue of challenges and his entry to the Netherlands was the hardest thing in his life.
From long walks across many countries in Africa to crossing high waters in the Mediterranean Sea, the determined Shariiff finally managed to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.
The Netherlands failed to accept him as an asylum seeker after interviewing him several times on grounds that he used a different name from the one that he used when he crossed over to Italy. Immigration authorities said his fingerprints may have been captured in Italy.
While still at an asylum centre when his application was being processed, Shariff resorted to skinning his finger tips by using a concoction of chemicals in order to alter his fingerprints: Veet (ointment), Vodka (alcohol), hot iron and scrubbing off the peeling skin with a knife.
"I used to go to immigration authorities with my damaged finger tips to proof to them the extent I am willing to go. I am not lying about the fact that I came from Mogadishu. The second time I told them the truth that Italy has not given me asylum but all that fell on deaf ears."
Shariff is indeed from Somalia. The Star can confirm that he hails from Howlwadaag area of Mogadishu. We learnt that Shariff is married with one wife and a daughter whom he fathered before he fled Mogadishu in August 2007.
At that time Mogadishu was experiencing one of the worst violence, when the now defunct Islamic Courts Union (ICU) fighters were making ambitious forays to control the Horn of Africa nation by battling with forces of the beleaguered western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) led by the immediate former President Abdullahi Yussuf.
Young men like Shariff were the target of both the TFG and ICU. You either had to fight for one side or else both sides will be suspicious of you.
Still living in the outskirts of Mogadishu, Sharriff's wife says she has not heard from her husband for the past four years. His wife was happy to hear from us that her husband is alive.
Beaming with a broad smile, the first thing she asked was, "is he OK? Has he married another woman? My daughter and I are waiting for him to save us from this daily violence."
Back at The Hague, Shariff says he's now stressed and doesn't know what to do next. "I told the Dutch government to grant me one of three options: to grant me asylum and recognize me as a refugee, to lock me up in prison so that I can at least get food to eat or to return me back to the chaos in my home country. They told me none of the above is possible."
Disabled: thrown out in the cold
It's about 5pm on a Saturday afternoon in Oost in the outskirts of Amsterdam. Next to a recreational park a man confined to a wheelchair is wheeled past a group of young men drinking and enjoying the spring sun.
This disabled man is Hanad Mohamed and the person assisting him is his cousin Ali Jamaa. They are both Somalis whose asylum application been unsuccessful. Both Hanad and his cousin came to the Netherlands at the same time and their first point of entry was Schipol Airport in Amsterdam back in 2007. Close to five years later, they have not succeeded in their attempt to gain refugee status in the Netherlands. They spend time in parks and are always on the move.
"I am disabled and cannot move on my own but my cousin has stood by me. We have no place to sleep or rest. We move from one area to another and since we cannot afford to pay for accommodation, we sleep in parks, rail stations and sometimes we go to centres where Somalis meet and they give us accommodation for one to two nights," says Hanad.
Though their application for asylum is different, these two cousins have both been unlucky. Their predicaments started when they were caught by Dutch police on board a train to Amsterdam. They were carrying fake passports.
"When they asked for identification we gave them the passports we managed to enter the country with. After examining the passports with some gadgets they had, the police told us the passports were fake. We decided to put our hands up in the air. We told them we were refugees from Somalia." Hanad explains wrapping his eyes to avoid pollen falling from the trees in the park.
Hanad and Ali knew all along that the travel documents they were using were not genuine but the urge to escape Somalia was their top priority.
The police after questioning them on their mission told them to go to Ter Apel, one of the centres where refugees who come to the Netherlands to seek asylum stay.
According to Hanad and Ali, they were transferred to Almelo refugee camp as they awaited the verdict. It was a painstaking slow process but they were eventually handed a negative response; their application for asylum was not successful. "The immigration officials recorded our conversations with them and went to review the tapes. They then told me that my Somali accent was that of Somaliland and not Central/South Somalia. They said I was lying and that I am not from Mogadishu as I had told them. It's a shock, I was born and bred in Howlwadaag area of Mogadishu, how did they come up with that?" poses Hanad Mohamed infuriated by our insistence to know whether he indeed hails from Mogadishu.
Hanad says he has a problem with the people who conduct the interviews. According to him, they sometimes make up their minds without verifying the truth.
Authorities, however, informed Ali Jamaa that they had no problem with his accent and that they believe he's from Afgoye, an area just a few kilometres from Somalia's capital Mogadishu. But the shocker came when he was told they can't grant him asylum.
"They didn't give me a valid reason and I suspect it's because of Hanad's case, since they think he's from Somaliland and that we are related. Maybe they are thinking that we are from the same area - Somaliland." Ali hints he is not happy with the immigration officials.
These two cousins who say they fled Mogadishu are now caught up in an immigration limbo where their fate hangs precariously in the balance.
Hanad says he has been in touch again with Immigratie en Naturalisatiedienst (IND), the body entrusted to deal with immigration issues in the Netherlands under the Ministry of justice. He plans to argue his case on medical grounds. "If they are human enough I hope they will consider my disability. It's close to five years and I have nothing to show for it. God please help me and my cousin. I know there are thousands of other Somalis suffering in this country like we are," Hanad ends with a word of prayer.
Ali Jamaa says they are stuck; they have nothing to eat, can't work, they can't claim benefits, they have nowhere to live."They should give people a chance to live. I am so disappointed with Holland. They talk of human rights but I think this is a violation of human rights. We are here because our country is burning and that we just need protection and some care but the Dutch government has given us none of that." Ali Adds that he wishes he could go back to Mogadishu. "Even thieves locked up in prisons in this country are given basic needs. Why can't they give us some help, we are only looking for safety?" Ali asks.
A debt to pay and failed asylum status
In the midst of the thousands of people who are criss-crossing the Amsterdam Central railway station to catch the morning train, a skinny young man stands close to a vending machine appearing confused.
A closer look reveals his lips are cracked and he has reddish eyes with tears on the lashes. This is 20-year-old Hassan Abdullahi who identifies himself as a refugee from Somalia. "I am here because I have nowhere to go in Amsterdam or in Holland or any other European country. I crossed from Italy where I was for the last two years. In Italy life wasn't any better as the government didn't grant me asylum. It was a horrible situation and I decided to try my luck in the Netherlands but as you can see I am suffering at this train station."
According to Hassan, he landed at the train station after immigration authorities in the Netherlands told him bluntly that he can't be allowed to stay in the country for fear that his fingerprints might have been captured in Italy.
"I arrived three days ago and went straight to Ter Apel centre for asylum seekers where I was directed to by some policemen I met in this rail station. This is a centre that immigrants go to but when I went and identified myself, the officials asked me where I was from and when I told them I entered Netherlands from Italy, they told me to go back there."
Hassan says he comes from Bulla-Hawa in the Gedo region of Somalia where he ran away from after his father was brutally murdered by members of Al-Shabaab, a militant group that's fighting the transitional federal government of Somalia. Hassan says he doesn't know the whereabouts of his eight siblings.
"My mother died in 2006 due to natural causes. When my father was killed in 2008, I couldn't bear the burden of taking care of my siblings, some of whom were attending school. I borrowed US$2,000 from a relative in the hope that I will pay him back," says Hassan with a sorrow look engulfing his worried face.
Hassan's journey to Europe involved a grueling one month; travelling through the countryside to cross into neighbouring Kenya, through Sudan, Libya and eventually to Italy. That was two years ago but still his prospects of a better life in Europe are hazy.
The Dutch Authorities at the Ter Apel centre told him to go back to Italy as that's the procedure but Hassan says there are no prospects of getting asylum in Italy.
At the train station, Hassan is on the watch out to meet any Somali who can guide him on the next step. Meanwhile, he has to endure the cold at the busy railway station.
We spoke with five other Somali men with failed asylum status and who are wallowing in abject poverty in Eidhoveen, Rotterdam and Utrecht. They all have almost similar stories to tell but one thing that stands out is that they fault the Dutch immigration system.
Immigration officials ask for valid documents like birth certificate and passport and they ask, where will somebody from Somalia get these documents from considering Somalia has not had functioning institutions for over 20 years?
Immigration officials who interview the asylum seekers are also said to have a preconceived idea that Somalis are lying about their situation. The Dutch Ministry of Justice didn't reply to our request for an interview.
Two among them whose country of first entry into the European Union was Italy point an accusing finger at it. They claim to have suffered high levels of discrimination and deplorable living conditions in asylum seekers camps.
The two men say some officials told them to 'hit the road' and look for other countries that can accommodate them as Somalis were not welcome in Italy. "They were our colonisers and we thought they will be welcoming since they understand our problems than any other EU country but now they are traitors," said Mohamed. "Netherlands is not better. We are living on the streets, so no difference between Italy and Holland."
In the second part of this story, read how some asylum seekers find a more welcoming environment in criminal syndicates.
Source: All Africa
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