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ESCAPING THE HORN: Desperate Somalis defy law, costs to cross into Kenya

by Frank Nyakairu | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thursday, 11 February 2010 17:01 GMT

Every year, tens of thousands of people from Horn of Africa countries in the continent's north-east undertake dangerous

journeys to faraway South Africa to escape conflict, poverty and hunger in their homelands. In a special series, AlertNet

tells the stories of Somali migrants crossing into Kenya and beyond, a young Somali woman living illegally in Kenya and a teenage boy who has travelled 4,500km (2,800miles) from Somalia to South Africa.

LIBOI, Kenya (AlertNet) - A dusty hot wind blew freely through Liboi's only street. The Muslim town on the border with

Somalia had shut down for afternoon prayers. But in the backyard of one of the iron-and-wood cabins, activity was rife.

Laden with heavy plastic bags, a group of weary women and children trickled through a narrow gate. Their minders led them

to a makeshift shed and gave them ice-cold water.

"Those have just crossed the border from Somalia into Kenya," said Abdi Yusuf, an aid worker in Liboi.

The refugees had walked for several hours on small sandy paths to avoid Kenya's police. They fled from hardline Islamist

al Shabaab militia which controls their home town of Dobley in Somalia, Yusuf said.

"A Somalia under al Shabaab is not a place for us to stay, so we found all means possible to come into Kenya," said Mohamed

Nur, another Somali refugee headed to a refugee camp near the town of Dadaab with his young son.

"Al Shabaab is witch-hunting all those who don't support them," he added.

Kenya closed its 680-km (420-mile) border with Somalia in 2007. But hundreds of Somalis sneak in illegally every day,

fleeing violence in their homeland that has killed some 21,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and uprooted 1.5 million

people.

Human smugglers, middlemen, hotel and bus owners collude with corrupt police officers to move Somali refugees into and

around Kenya in a lucrative trade.

MORE REFUGEES

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said 2,730 refugees had entered Kenya from Somalia in January - lower than last year's

average of 5,000 a month.

But that number could be about to go up again with the start of a long-promised offensive by Somali government forces against the al Shabaab rebels and other Islamist insurgent groups.

In anticipation, Kenya has boosted security on the border this year. But controlling the influx of refugees across the

desert frontier remains difficult, Kenyan authorities say.

"The border is too long for us to have forces at each point but we try our level best to carry out patrols to make sure we

stop people from coming in," said Winston Murungi, the commissioner of Kenya's border district of Lagdera.

Corruption within security forces further slackens controls.

"There are individuals who take money from illegal aliens moving from Liboi and other borders to Nairobi," said James Ole

Seriani, police chief for Kenya's northeastern region.

According to different accounts, a refugee can pay a bribe of $50 to $100 at each of the several checkpoints on a highway

between the border towns of Liboi and Mandera and Nairobi.

That compares to an average monthly salary of $250 for police officers in Kenya.

"We are doing our level best to catch the corrupt officers and stop this illegal business," Seriani said by telephone from

Garissa.

But ending human smuggling is "a major challenge because it involves hundreds of dollars changing hands", he added.

(Editing by Olesya Dmitracova)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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