Today there are over 300,000 families populating the IDP camps of Mogadishu. Overwhelming majority of these families come from the southern farming communities of the Lower Shabelle, Bay, Bakool, Gedo and Middle Jubba regions. Historically these regions have always been the breadbasket of the country and as they languish in these camps a great effort in food security and therefore peace for Somalia is being lost. These camps have become poverty, rape and crime infested areas and worse yet it is the prime recruitment center for Al-shabab resulting from the abundance of disparate idle youth. Unfortunately, these displaced people have not met with the humanity they deserved when they arrive the camps. The IDPs have been put into camps whereby the famine entrepreneurs in the form of some local NGOs use them through an enriching schema. After some investigation the elders noticed that the food donation from the international community have mostly been squandered in the following way. First, the food being received on behalf of the IDPs by the local NGOs, while some of these do deliver the food I in an honest way, however, majority of the NGOs are in the business for lining up their pockets. For example, a camp has been assigned to receive 100 ton of food immediately the IDPs will be summoned to sit on the food and their picture taken. After the picture is taken the food would be taken back with force by the gatekeepers and their militias, then the NGOs sells 95% of the food to businessmen. Second, in some cases IDPs receive a resettlement grant from INGOs e.g. UNHCR and various Islamic Relief organizations. The first action is to shut down that particular camp and load the families on trucks in order to satisfy the charity organization. However, the IDPs will be taken only to the outskirts of Mogadishu and be sold to another NGO and his/her gatekeepers as new IDP for a nominal fee. Often each family is allocated US$ 2000 towards their resettlement, unfortunately only 10% (or US $200) goes to the family and the rest will be divided between the NGO, gatekeepers and middle men. Third and finally, the beneficiaries of this schema are currently campaigning for relocation of these IDP camps into the outskirts of the Mogadishu rather than repatriation to their original locations. The Somali traditional Elder’s have in the past advocated that this is a wrong- headed policy that only recycles the current squalid existence of the IDPs in Mogadishu. Moreover, Somalia’s peace and prosperity will be hindered by this policy and we believe that it will create ghettoized shanty towns that only produce crime, poverty and human rights violation. Suldaan Warsame Aliyoow
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 17:54:17 +0000
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