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Somalis flee for Europe as rebuilding too slow

Somalis flee for Europe as rebuilding too slow
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MOGADISHU | May 17, 2016 – When hundreds of Somalis were reported drowned in the Mediterranean last month, Abdi Deeq didn’t rethink his plans to flee the Horn of Africa nation and risk the illicit crossing to Europe.

More than two decades of Somali civil war and a bloody Al  Qaeda-aligned insurgency have left the 22-year-old student with little hope his country is becoming safer or more prosperous.

Even as the capital, Mogadishu, rebuilds and elections are scheduled this year, near-daily bombings, rampant corruption and few career opportunities mean he’s one of many young Somalis who see moving abroad as their only choice.

“Many students who were my classmates risked their lives going to Europe − some died in the sea and others survived,” Deeq said in an interview in the city.”I am ready to join those friends.”

The departure of youth, who should be playing “a pivotal role in Somalia’s socio-economic progress,” will have a “negative impact” on the country’s development, according to Fadumo Abdi Warsameh, chairwoman of the Somalia National Youth Organisation.

Somalis are adding to Europe’s biggest wave of displaced people since World War II, with 1.26 million of all nationalities arriving last year.

Of the estimated 153,842 people who crossed illicitly to Italy in 2015, more than 12,400 were Somalis, according to the Kenya-based Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat.

Somali immigration officials say they don’t have an exact number of people that have fled in the past year, but that the rate of departures has almost quadrupled in the past six months.

Some Somalis also fled across the sea to Yemen, even as conflict engulfs that country, RMMS data show.

Somalia’s government on April 19 banned its citizens from travelling to Sudan, a popular transit route for undocumented immigrants, after it said hundreds who’d crossed the country died when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean.

More than 3,500 people of all nationalities have been killed making similar crossings in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Data from an RMMS project that interviewed Somalia migrants shows Europe named as the preferred final destination by 44 per cent, ahead of South Africa with 34 per cent and the US with 16 per cent.

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Bloomberg
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Xafiiska Wararka Qaranimo Online | Mogadishu, Somalia

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