From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:RUSSIA: Somali refugees get little help from Russia
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 17:52:42 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: RUSSIA: Somali refugees get little help from Russia

an inter press service feature

by jennifer gould

serebryanka, dec 11 (ips/moscow times) -- more than 6,000 miles
from the u.s. marine corps beachhead in somalia, beleaguered
refugees from somalia's numerous feuding clans say they have found
unity -- in desperation -- on russian soil.

while the factions war in somalia, members of the different
groups have come together to find a way out. ''here we are one,''
said simba mohamud, 39, spokesman for 234 somalis who live in an
impromptu refugee camp in serebryanka, a run-down, soviet-era
vacation complex in the middle of nowhere.

in this secluded woody area one hour northwest of moscow, somalis
from five different clans are trying to get to the west after
fleeing the two-year-old civil war in their home country.
''we
must help and love each other because we have no support from
outside,'' said mohamud, who speaks five different languages.

anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 asylum seekers from beyond the
borders of the former soviet union now live in moscow, said sarid
aknine, an algerian refugee director for equilibre, a french
humanitarian group that operates the camp in cooperation with the
united nations high commissioner for refugees (unhcr).

because the russian government is overwhelmed with its own
economic crisis, combined with an influx of about 460,000 refugees
from war-torn ex-soviet republics as well as returning ethnic
russians, the international refugees are being left by the
wayside.

while only about 500 of the international refugees have found
shelter in camps like the one in serebryanka, some say the camps
are more like a prison than home.

rahma abdelkader hassen, 22, who fled somalia with her one-year-
old daughter, zakir, in july 1991, said she was reluctant to leave
the camp out of fear. villagers often rob the somalis, she said,
believing they are rich. she said she was robbed at knife point on
her 10th day in russia.

hassen, like most refugees from the south also lacks warm
clothes. and the camp is so remote that it cuts most refugees off
from the rest of russia.

''but the biggest problem is there is no milk for the children.
the mothers are too malnourished to breast-feed them,'' hassen
said. she is muslim, she added, does not eat pork and is not
adjusting well to russian food.
(more/ips)

russia: somali refugees get little help from russians(2-e)

russia: somali refugees
(2)

not just the somalis, but also iraqis, kurds, afghans and
ethiopians are seeking refugee status in moscow. many bribed their
way to ex-soviet republics in hopes of moving on to the west. but
no country, except russia, is accepting them.

while the russians are not deporting hassen and others like her,
they are not helping either, said a spokesman from russia's
federal immigration service, which was set up recently to deal
exclusively with refugees from the ex-soviet republics and
returning ethnic russians.

in fact, no group was helping the international refugees until a
few months ago, when the moscow protestant chaplaincy began
assisting the somalis. the unhcr and equilibre followed suit in
october, and now house about 500 of the refugees in three camps.

they feed another 1,000 refugees and hope to place 6,000 refugees
in camps this year, aknine said.

the unhcr pays camp administrators about 500 rubles per person
each day. but camp administrators now want 700 rubles a day and
insist that the refugees leave by spring, when vacationers are
expected to return to the resort.

''i don't know what we'll do then,'' aknine said.

thousands more refugees are homeless or living with as many as 13
people in cramped one-room apartments. about 72 somalis were
living on the floor of an airport transit lounge for up to a year;
unhcr recently moved them to a transit hotel.

other desperate iraqi refugees were just moved to a camp after
two weeks in the danish embassy. the international red cross and
red crescent societies moved another group after they broke into
the red cross building's lobby and occupied it for three weeks.

most of the refugees reject the idea of staying in russia.
aziza
mohomad, 14, who speaks somali, arabic and russian, said: i miss
my friends in somalia, but i don't want to go back now. and i
don't want to stay here. we don't have enough to eat and it's very
cold here.

''i don't care what country we move to, as long as there is hope
for the future,'' she added.

(end/ips/pr/mt/rj/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african