61. While they have been treated as ambiguous citizens since independence, many think of themselves as Kenyans and at least in the last decade, Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland have not been central points of reference for many. Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. 113. Candidates aimed at maximizing the numbers of their own group, either by registering their voters in their area, or by driving others out.Footnote59 Even though the territorialization of ethnicity already started in colonial times, it was strengthened with re-introducing the multi-party system in 1992, and further intensified with devolution.Footnote60 The 47 county governments furthermore control about 30% of national revenue, divided between them in part according to population size, deepening discussions about the census figures of 2009.Footnote61. Turton, The Isaq Somali Diaspora, 343. 57. agriculture: 34.5% (2017 est. )1.2% of GDP (2020)1.2% of GDP (2019)1.3% of GDP (2018)1.4% of GDP (2017), approximately 24,000 personnel (20,000 Army; 1,500 Navy; 2,500 Air Force) (2022), the KDF's inventory traditionally carried mostly older or second-hand Western weapons systems, particularly from France, the UK, and the US; however, since the 2000s it has sought to modernize and diversify its imports, and suppliers have included more than a dozen countries including China, Italy, and the US (2022), no conscription; 18-26 years of age for male and female voluntary service (under 18 with parental consent; upper limit 30 years of age for specialists, tradesmen, or women with a diploma; 39 years of age for chaplains/imams); 9-year service obligation (7 years for Kenyan Navy) and subsequent 3-year re-enlistments; applicants must be Kenyan citizens (2022), 260 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); 3,650 Somalia (ATMIS) (2022)note: in November 2022, Kenya sent approximately 1,000 troops to the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as part of a newly formed East Africa Community Regional Force (EACRF) to assist the DRC military against the rebel group M23; the force is led by Kenya, the KDF is considered to be an experienced, effective, and professional force; it has conducted operations in neighboring Somalia since 2011 and taken part in numerous regional peacekeeping and security missions; it is a leading member of the Africa Standby Force; the KDF trains regularly, participates in multinational exercises, and has ties to a variety of foreign militaries, including those of France, the UK, and the US; its chief security concerns and missions include protecting the countrys sovereignty and territory, regional disputes, the threat posed by the al-Shabaab terrorist group based in neighboring Somalia, maritime crime and piracy, and assisting civil authorities in responding to emergency, disaster, or political unrest as requestedthe Army has 5 combat brigades, including 3 infantry, an armored, and an artillery brigade; it also has a helicopter-equipped air cavalry battalion and a special operations regiment comprised of airborne, special forces, and ranger battalions; the Navy has several offshore patrol vessels, large coastal patrol boats, and missile-armed craft; the Air Force has a small inventory of older US-origin fighter aircraft, as well as some transport aircraft and combat helicopters Kenyan military forces intervened in Somalia in October 2011 to combat the al Qaida-affiliated al-Shabaab terrorist group, which had conducted numerous cross-border attacks into Kenya; in November 2011, the UN and the African Union invited Kenya to incorporate its forces into the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM); Kenyan forces were formally integrated into AMISOM in February 2012; they consist of approximately 3,600 troops and are responsible for AMISOMs Sector 2 comprising Lower and Middle Jubba (see Appendix T for additional details on al-Shabaab; note - as of May 2022, AMISOM was renamed the AU Transition Mission in Somalia or ATMIS)the Kenya Military Forces were created following independence in 1963; the current KDF was established and its composition laid out in the 2010 constitution; it is governed by the Kenya Defense Forces Act of 2012; the Army traces its origins back to the Kings African Rifles (KAR), a British colonial regiment raised from Britain's East Africa possessions from 1902 until independence in the 1960s; the KAR conducted both military and internal security functions within the colonial territories, and served outside the territories during the World Wars (2023), the International Maritime Bureau reported no piracy attacks in the territorial and offshore waters of Kenya in 2022; although the opportunity for incidents has reduced, the Somali pirates continue to possess the capability and capacity to carry out incidents; in the past, vessels have also been targeted off Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mozambique, as well as in the Indian ocean, and off the west and south coasts of India and west Maldives; generally, Somali pirates tend to be well armed with automatic weapons, RPGs and sometimes use skiffs launched from mother vessels, which may be hijacked fishing vessels or dhows; the Maritime Administration of the US Department of Transportation has issued a Maritime Advisory (2023-003 - Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Bab al Mandeb Strait, Red Sea, and Somali Basin-Threats to Commercial Vessels) effective 23 February 2023, which states in part that "Regional conflict, military activity, and political tensions pose threats to commercial vessels operating in the above listed geographic areas" that shipping in territorial and offshore waters in the Indian Ocean remain at risk for piracy and armed robbery against ships, al-Shabaab; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)/Qods Forcenote: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T, Kenya-Ethiopia: their border was demarcated in the 1950s and approved in 1970; in 2012, Kenya and Ethiopia agreed to redemarcate their boundary following disputes over beacons and cross-border crime, Kenya-Somalia: Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists; in 2021, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave Somalia control over a disputed ocean area where the seabeds are believed to hold vasts oil and gas deposits; the ICJ ruling gave Somalia the rights to several offshore oil exploration blocks previously claimed by Kenya; Kenya did not recognize the courts decision, Kenya-South Sudan: two thirds of the boundary that separates Kenya and South Sudan's sovereignty known as the Ilemi Triangle has been unclear since British colonial times; Kenya has administered the area since colonial times; officials from Kenya and South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding on boundary delimitation and demarcation and agreed to set up a joint committee; as of July 2019, the demarcation process was to begin in 90 days, but was delayed due to a lack of funding, Kenya-Sudan: Kenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005, Kenya-Tanzania: Kenya and Tanzania were conducting a joint reaffirmation process in November 2021 to ensure the border was visibly marked with pillars, Kenya-Uganda: Kenya and Uganda began a joint demarcation of the boundary in 2021, refugees (country of origin): 21,620 (Ethiopia), 8,159 (Burundi), 5,540 (Sudan) (2022); 281,319 (Somalia), 157,402 (South Sudan), 72,192 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2023)IDPs: 190,000 (election-related violence, intercommunal violence, resource conflicts, al-Shabaab attacks in 2017 and 2018) (2021)stateless persons: 16,779 (2022); note - the stateless population consists of Nubians, Kenyan Somalis, and coastal Arabs; the Nubians are descendants of Sudanese soldiers recruited by the British to fight for them in East Africa more than a century ago; Nubians did not receive Kenyan citizenship when the country became independent in 1963; only recently have Nubians become a formally recognized tribe and had less trouble obtaining national IDs; Galjeel and other Somalis who have lived in Kenya for decades are included with more recent Somali refugees and denied ID cards, a transit country for a variety of illicit drugs, including heroin and cocaine; transit location for precursor chemicals used to produce methamphetamine and other drugs; transshipment country for heroin from Southwest Asia destined for international markets, mainly Europe, and cocaine transits shipped through Ethiopia from South America; cultivates cannabis and miraa (khat) for both local use and export, total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030, Children under the age of 5 years underweight, International law organization participation, Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income, Household income or consumption by percentage share, Civil aircraft registration country code prefix, Military and security service personnel strengths, Military equipment inventories and acquisitions, Refugees and internally displaced persons, Center for the Study of Intelligence (CSI). )$9.116 billion (31 December 2019 est. Similar harrowing testimony -- dismissed as rebel propaganda by the Ethiopian government -- was repeated by various Ogaden refugees who have trickled recently into different parts of Kenya's . When the results were published in September 2010, Kenyan Somalis were, as in 1999, the strongest growing group. )5.73% (2020 est. Kenya has experienced dramatic population growth since the mid-20th century as a result of its high birth rate and its declining mortality rate. ), total petroleum production: 0 bbl/day (2021 est. The Ogaden is a plateau, with an elevation above sea level that ranges from 1,500 metres in the northwest, falling to about 300 metres along the southern limits and the Wabi Shebelle valley. Weitzberg, The Unaccountable Census, 419. )wine: 0.04 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est. There is a kind of national excitement coming with the elections they can be regarded as a national ritual in which the residents of Kenya fully participate.Footnote63 This is also the case for the northeastern region, despite the low voter registration in these counties, standing at 32.25% in Wajir, Mandera and Garissa,Footnote64 compared to 66% for overall Kenyan.Footnote65 Although Carrier and Kochore do not explain this low registration, it appears to result from a mixture of factors, from the complicated registration processes in remote areas, difficulties in acquiring identification documents for Kenyan Somalis to flawed population estimations. 65. Cheesman et al., Decentralisation in Kenya, 15. Mzee Jamal, an old Somali man in Nakuru, told me: They had no place for Somalis in Kenya. ), electrification - total population: 85% (2019)electrification - urban areas: 99% (2019)electrification - rural areas: 79% (2019), installed generating capacity: 3.304 million kW (2020 est. 24. While she described the first and the third group as being closed, she depicted Kenyan Somalis as open. )from coal and metallurgical coke: 1.25 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est. Differences in the way Kenyan Somalis respond to the alternating incorporation into and alienation from society can be found within the very same family. For the next two centuries Abyssinia defined the limits . 65 In 1948 and 1962 enumeration in Northern Province was not done by household because of sparse population and logistical difficulties. )spirits: 0.81 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est. ), $11.825 billion (2021 est.) His family did not know that Abdullahi lived a very different life, going to clubs and only very rarely to the mosque. )consumption: 821,000 metric tons (2020 est. Kenya Population Census 1962, 34-5. 19. Even though the High Court nullified parts of the bill, especially those concerned with the freedom of press and a clause limiting the number of refugees in the country to 150,000, most of its sections remain in place.Footnote77 This last step taken by the government indicates that security measures targeting Kenyan Somalis are part of a wider political landscape, encompassing not only the global war on terror,Footnote78 but also changing political structures within Kenya. On the massacre see also TJRC, Final Report 2A, 221367, and Sheikh, Blood on the Runway. ), improved: urban: 84% of populationrural: 48.1% of populationtotal: 58.2% of populationunimproved: urban: 16% of populationrural: 51.9% of populationtotal: 41.8% of population (2020 est. The intriguing conflicts which have been smoldering for a long period in the Horn of Africa erupted as Somalia invaded Ethiopia's Ogaden Province through subversion and direct aggression in an. In the third part of the paper, I discuss how the two dimensions important for the notion of Kenyanness race and cultural citizenship play out for the Somali citizens of the state. Although some of these instruments potentially open new spaces for the socio-political involvement of the Somali inhabitants of Kenya, those spaces are constricted by securitization discourses persistent othering of Kenyas Somali communities. The Nubians of Kibera Revisited: Detribalized Natives, Slum Dwellers, Middle Class? 40. )proven reserves: 0 cubic meters (2021 est. The changed mode of the presidential election also introduced new competitive elements. ), production: 0 cubic meters (2021 est. 99. )tide and wave: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est. Counting ethnic affiliation was seen by some commentatorsFootnote49 as reintroducing ethnicity into politics when unity should be paramount. Diaspora Somalis Negotiate Their Citizenship, Remembering Wagalla: State Violence in Northern Kenya, 19621991, Counting as Citizens: Recognition of the Nubians in the 2009 Kenyan Census, Feeling the Pinch: Kenya, Al-Shabaab, and East Africas Refugee Crisis, Urban Refugees in Nairobi: Problems of Protection, Mechanisms of Survival, and Possibilities for Integration, Navigating Ethnicity and Electoral Politics in Northern Kenya: The Case of the 2013 Election, Autochthony: Local Or Global? Even the existence of Somali heroes, as seen in the Westgate Mall AttackFootnote100 or initiatives against that image (#KenyaImNotATerrorist)Footnote101 do not seem to change this picture. In high school she played soccer, and she likes walking around in town, even though people recurrently whisper walaal in her direction.Footnote106 For some time, she had a Nubian boyfriend nobody knew about. The question for Kenyan Somalis is not, therefore, if they belong to Kenya, but how. Following McIntoshs contention that one way to claim Kenyanness is to appeal to a civic nationalism, in which all groups invested in the nation are equally welcome, this article argues based on ethnographic data gathered since 2010 as well as archival sources that many Kenyan Somalis are ready to take this possibility up, if they have the chance to do so. Similar narratives of internal migration feature in many of the interviews. These fears were at the core of two discussions I was present at, taking place during the Coast Regional Peace Summit, Mombasa, 2011 and among Kenyan participants of a Conference on Refugees and Forced Migrants, Kilifi, 2016. The most credible attempt at talks to end decades of armed conflict in Ogaden may soon . )hydroelectricity: 32.6% of total installed capacity (2020 est. One main step in this process was drafting a new constitution.Footnote42 The idea of Kenya as a nation of diversity was, however, not only a political project, but also fostered in popular culture in music (eg. Accessed March 7, 2018. http://www.afrobarometer.org. This paper deals with the way the politics of belonging have been enacted in Kenya in the last decade and what this has meant for Kenyan Somalis. 104. But it is not that Kenyan Somalis dont want to be part of Kenya. This paper deals with the way a politics of belonging has been enacted in recent years in Kenya, and what this means for the Somali population of the country. Now I haven't mentioned the Ogadeni clan as they also inhabit NFD because I see them as traitors and work for the interest of Kenya majority of them. Kenyan Somalis, however, likewise reinforce notions of being different when calling their neighbours Africans.Footnote86 This can be read as a colonial legacy, the struggle of urbanized Somalis to be treated like Asians, but it can also be interpreted as a racial marker.Footnote87, Lonsdale noted that the slogan for national unity under Kibaki, Kenya: A Working Nation, also divided the population: Since some work is thought to be morally superior to others some Kenyans are more Kenyan than others.Footnote88 According to him the definition of Kenyanness is linked to idioms of connection to land evolving from the long-standing competition between farming and herding, between working and controling the land. The term ambiguous citizens seems to capture this situation better than the often-used expression second class citizens, as it carries the notion of uncertainty and the undetermined, as well as the emotional side of citizenship, going beyond a purely legal definition. Lochery, Rendering Difference Visible, 617. 14. Abdullahi left Nakuru immediately after recovering and started a new life in Nairobi. Cultural citizenship is also asserted by an investment in building Kenyas future,Footnote98 another way of working the soil.Footnote99 The involvement of Kenyan Somalis in the secession movement of the 1960s, and, today, in terrorist attacks, works in the opposite direction. Both of them, as good Muslims, did not go out to bars, but instead played video games in the evening and enjoyed Somali music. Changes in identification over time are also indicated by the Afrobarometer data concerning ethnic versus national identification. This perception was not only linked to a feeling of cultural proximity, but also to personal contacts which are often clan-centred. Precursors of this paper were presented at the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies in December 2013 and the Somali Studies Conference in Helsinki in 2015. ), total subscriptions: 61,096 (2021 est. Kenya Population Census 1969, 1; Kenya Population Census 1979, 8. Administrative boundaries and names changed over time. The first and biggest are the inhabitants of the northeastern region of Kenya, bordering Somalia and Ethiopia. ), number of registered air carriers: 25 (2020)inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 188annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 5,935,831 (2018)annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 294.97 million (2018) mt-km, total: 16over 3,047 m: 52,438 to 3,047 m: 21,524 to 2,437 m: 2914 to 1,523 m: 6under 914 m: 1 (2021), total: 1811,524 to 2,437 m: 14914 to 1,523 m: 107under 914 m: 60 (2021), 4 km oil, 1,432 km refined products (2018), total: 3,819 km (2018)standard gauge: 485 km (2018) 1.435-m gaugenarrow gauge: 3,334 km (2018) 1.000-m gauge, total: 161,452 km (2018)paved: 14,420 km (2017) (8,500 km highways, 1,872 urban roads, and 4,048 rural roads)unpaved: 147,032 km (2017), (2011) none specifically; the only significant inland waterway is the part of Lake Victoria within the boundaries of Kenya; Kisumu is the main port and has ferry connections to Uganda and Tanzania, total: 25by type: oil tanker 3, other 22 (2022), major seaport(s): Kisumu, MombasaLNG terminal(s) (import): Mombasa, Kenya Defense Forces (KDF): Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, Kenya Air Force (2023)note 1: the National Police Service maintains internal security and reports to the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government; it includes a paramilitary General Service Unit and Rapid Deployment Unitnote 2: the Kenya Coast Guard Service (established 2018) is under the Ministry of Interior but led by a military officer and comprised of personnel from the military, as well as the National Police Service, intelligence services, and other government agencies, 1.2% of GDP (2021 est. ), total: 20 yearsmale: 19.9 yearsfemale: 20.1 years (2020 est. Lochery discusses citizenship as being graduated.Footnote5 Using the example of the screening exercise of 1989, when all Kenyan Somalis had to get registered, she demonstrates how institutions negotiate and produce citizenship, resulting in graduated access to rights and protection. In the violence following the elections 2007, he was almost killed in a targeted attack, which he blamed on economic competition based on ethnic categorization. ), English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languagesmajor-language sample(s): The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. Lind et al., Killing a Mosquito, 15. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This move, already planned before 2011, was realized after several kidnappings in the northeastern region in 2011 (see Lind et al., Killing a Mosquito, 4). )$234.438 billion (2019 est. 29.6% vs 36.1% 2.22x higher real GDP growth rate? According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Somalia ranks as fourth-lowest in gender equality 41 . The movement of people from Somalia to Kenya intensified at the end of the 1980s, resulting in new efforts to distinguish citizens from non-citizens. Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab. 4.5% vs 7.1% 33.22million larger labor force? In Nakuru, I met several families neither registered with the UNHCR nor the Kenyan state. Hassan mentioned Islam as the main element linking ethnic Somalis from Kenya and Somalia. Campbell, Urban Refugees in Nairobi, 401. Government commitment and international technical support spurred Kenyan contraceptive use, decreasing the fertility rate (children per woman) from about 8 in the late 1970s to less than 5 children twenty years later, but it has plateaued at about 3 children as of 2022. Ogden is a city located in Weber County Utah.It is also the county seat of Weber County.With a 2023 population of 86,942, it is the 8th largest city in Utah and the 399th largest city in the United States. ), $29.289 billion (2019 est. ), milk, tea, beef, maize, sugar cane, tomatoes, mangoes/guavas, potatoes, beans, bananas, agriculture, transportation, services, manufacturing, construction, telecommunications, tourism, retail, agriculture: 61.1%industry: 6.7%services: 32.2% (2005 est. )3.09% of GDP (2020 est. ), -$5.744 billion (2021 est. 8. The figures concerning the North Eastern Province, where most Kenyan Somalis lived, were later nullified, following claims that they were not reliable. Even though other communities, such as Maasai, Kalenjin, or Luo likewise spread over national borders, Kenyan Somali Members of Parliament lamented repeatedly that Kenya treats its Somali citizens differently than those other groups.Footnote90 The notion of pastoralism can, however, also serve as a binding element, as the elections 2013 showed. Weitzberg, We Do Not Have, cautions that also this term implicitly sets Somalis apart from other transnational groups in Kenya (p. 15), for whom nationality is rarely mentioned. Accessed March 6, 2018. http://www.unhcr.org/ke/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/01/Kenya-Operation-Factsheet-December-2017-.pdf. The situation of an Ogaden born in Kenya is very different from the one of an Ogaden born in Kismayo from one born in Region 5. Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Fact Sheet, Kenya (01-31 December 2017). See Whittaker, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency. This term can be seen as a derivation from a Somali greeting (Carrier, Little Mogadishu, 81), but also as originating from the english term warrior in contiuation with colonial representations (Abdi, Accidental Citizens, 27). Both solutions are characterized by instability and insecurity. Afrobarometer Data, Kenya, R3R7, 2005/062016/18. Kenya is a source of emigrants and a host country for refugees. 38. See for instance the 2016 exhibition Who I Am, Who We Are in Nairobi and an article in the Daily Nation discussing this exhibition. 79. )arable land: 9.8% (2018 est. 86. Fellow Kenyan Somalis label them siju(i),Footnote105 in the same way as Somalians categorize all Kenyan Somalis as neither knowing Somali language nor culture. 11 Mainly . The only exception from this pattern in Nakuru was a Muslim youth group in which Amina was participating: its all-Somali members, who had met in school, came from Somalia as well as from Kenya (and here from the urban areas as well as from the northeastern part of the country). ), Uganda 14%, Pakistan 8%, Netherlands 8%, United States 8%, United Kingdom 7% (2020), tea, cut flowers, refined petroleum, gold, coffee (2020), $21.853 billion (2021 est.) A similar trend could be observed from the total Kenyan panel, in which the national identification over the ethnic one rose from about 40% (2005/2006) to about 54% (2016/2018). )solar: 1% of total installed capacity (2020 est. Weitzberg, The Unaccountable Census.. ), lowest 10%: 1.8%highest 10%: 37.8% (2005), 3.42% of GDP (2021 est. This status was similar to that of Nubians, see Sarre, The Nubians of Kibera.. The population is predominantly Somali, and there have been attempts to incorporate the area into a Greater Somalia. 52. In the 1970s, Somalia, supported by the United States, invaded Ethiopia, igniting the Ogaden War, which Somalia lost due to timely military intervention from the Soviet Union and its ally Cuba. (male 855,757/female 1,017,829), total dependency ratio: 70.2youth dependency ratio: 65.3elderly dependency ratio: 4.8potential support ratio: 20.7 (2021 est. Their perception of religious, economic and political marginalization partly derives from the feeling of lost power, which emerged with colonialism and intensified after independence. Ambiguous citizenship, as a concept, not only hints at the changing politics of the Kenyan state concerning its Somali citizens and the manifold ways in which Kenyan Somalis react to it, but it also takes into consideration the various roles Kenyan Somalis play in society.
Annabel Langbein Desserts,
Kolko Penazi Mozem Preniest V Lietadle,
Articles O
