From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: BRITAIN: Somali refugees face wides
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 01:26:12 GMT

Area: Middle East
Title: BRITAIN: Somali refugees face widespread discrimination


an inter press service feature

by leslie goffe

london, sep 2 (ips) -- the thousands of somalis fleeing civil war
and famine -- and seeking safe haven in britain -- are facing
enormous problems in making a new life for themselves in their
adopted country.

according to a recent report, they are living in appalling
conditions, receive limited health care, have little hope of
securing employment and face racial attacks from their english
neighbours.

rhoda ibrahim, a member of the somali women's association, and
the coordinator of the somali festival, says she is not surprised
by the results.

''all of a sudden it seems the whole country is finding out how
bad things are for us here,'' she says. ''but things can only get
better now everyone else knows we are here, and how we are
suffering.''

somalis have been coming to britain for almost one hundred years,
originally as seamen in the merchant navy. many of these men then
settled in the dock areas of london and cardiff.

they were recruited from britain's tiny somaliland protectorate --
based on anglo somali treaties of ''protection'', contracted in
1885 between britain and northern somali clans.

during the second world war many somalis fought with the british
in the burmese campaign and the somaliland protectorate was
administered by britain until independence in june 1960.

the report, 'the somali community of tower hamlets: a demographic
survey', was compiled by the borough council and is the first
comprehensive study of britain's 20,000 somalis. it centres on the
east london borough of tower hamlets, where more than 15,000
somalis -- 10 percent of the borough's population -- live.

tower hamlets was once the hub of the empire. it was home to a
thriving shipping industry, and to the mercantile trade centred
around the famous east india dock. now the area is bankrupt, and
run down. it is to this scene that refugees fleeing war and famine
arrive.

both the somalis who have been settled in britain for many years,
and those arriving daily as refugees, face serious problems --
housing being the single most critical issue.(more/ips)

britain: somali refugees face widespread discrimination(2)

britain: somali (2)

tower hamlets is officially classified by the department of the
environment as one of the most deprived in the whole of britain,
with high unemployment and a chronic housing shortage.

the demands the somali community -- which has tripled in number
since the outbreak of the somali civil war in 1988 -- have placed
on the borough's housing has exacerbated an already difficult
situation for the population at large.

overcrowding is a particular problem. the survey found that over
50 percent of all respondents had, as well as their own immediate
family members living with them, up to three other persons living
in the same household.

more than 20 percent said they had suffered racial harassment
from neighbours. many had been placed on a notorious housing
estate with a reputation for racial intolerance.

in one incident cited in the report, a pregnant somali tenant was
terrorised by her neighbours, who dumped sacks of garbage in front
of her doorway, verbally abused her, threatened her with death,
and set dogs on her children.

she was forced to barricade herself in her flat for four days,
before the council decided to move her from the estate.

yet the problems are not only confined to london. apart from the
cardiff community of some 3,700 somalis, some 2,000 others are
scattered throughout britain and many have similar tales to tell.

in may, a 14-year-old somalian refugee was beaten up by five
white youths as he walked home from visiting relatives on the
sheffield housing estate where he lived.

the attack is a particularly vicious incident in a spate of
racial assaults on somali refugee families who have moved to the
run-down lower manor estate in the midlands town.

''these people (somalis) come from a war situation to find
they've gone back into that war situation here,'' says local
somali-born community worker, asiya odugleh.

the 14 somali families who have moved to the estate in the last
18 months face a daily barrage of harassment, says odugleh. bricks
are thrown through their windows and dog faeces put in their
letter-boxes.

the local housing association, united kingdom housing trust, in
tandem with the council, was finally pricked into action by a
petition signed by 58 black residents on the estate. it has since
sent eviction notices to the families whose children have been
involved in attacks.

alarmed by the scale of the harassment, the council now provides
personal alarms for the refugees to use when they leave their
homes. it has also drawn together council workers to educate them
on racial abuse.(more/ips)

britain: somali refugees face widespread discrimination(3-e)

britain: somali (2)

yet at least these people have somewhere to stay. the london
survey also showed that an alarming number of somalis are homeless
and wandering the streets. forty percent of those who responded to
the survey said they were homeless -- almost all of these were
refugees.

last year 1,600 somalis were registered with the borough as
officially homeless. that figure has doubled this year.

the majority of somalis arriving in britain as refugees are
young, single people. this group's housing needs ranks as the
lowest possible priority for council housing departments,
according to the report.

for most of these refugees, the report says, ''the only solution
to being destitute is living in cramped conditions with relatives.
such conditions invariably contribute to a variety of physical and
mental illnesses, increased stress and a pervasive sense of
communal depression.''

as with housing, somalis have great difficulty gaining access to
health care services. if they do locate the service they need, the
report explains, ''linguistic difficulties discourage their use of
it''. many of the arriving refugees often need advice and
treatment for gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds and serious burns.

on the question of education and employment, the report
recommends that the local education authority review its provision
of services to the community, and that it provide schools with
teachers bi-lingual in english and in somali.

the report also recommends that the local education authority
review its employment practices, taking positive action to make
sure that composition of the borough's work force ''accurately
reflects the community which it serves''.

adan ismail, director of the somali london cultural community
doubts the effectiveness of the recommendations. ''they are just
recommendations, nothing more. it really depends. six months ago
the same council cut our association's funding while this report
was being prepared,'' he says.

''they only returned it after a big fight. we had to lobby our
mp,'' he continues. ''there is a lot of hypocrisy. you receive
publicity, they write reports and nothing happens.''
(end/ips/pr/lg/lj/rp/92)



-- 
Mr. Aaron Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us -- posting from Evanston, Illinois