Somali passports for sale
By Mohammed Adow
BBC, Nairobi
Forged Somali passports are as easy to buy as bread in the Garissa
Lodge market in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
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There is no authority to issue Somali passports - except in the markets
Abdifatah Farah Yasin not only sells the passport but also
"authenticates" it by putting a seal of the Somali ministry of foreign
affairs and forging the signature of the last controller of passports
before the break-up of the Somali state.
Somalia has had no central government since 1991 and has been wracked
by fighting between opposing warlords.
"We are doing nothing wrong, we are just playing the role of a Somali
government now that there isn't one in our country. Obviously there
should be someone offering this service to Somalis," he said.
He even offered to sell me a Somali diplomatic passport, for just $100.
He said he would indicate in the passport that I was the Somali
Ambassador to China or any other country of my choice.
He said they are printed in Malaysia and then smuggled into Kenya,
where they are sold to Somalis desperate to travel abroad.
Free-for-all
The ready availability of Somali passports has led to nationals of
other countries opting to use it too.
The Somali passport has been an attraction to ethnic Somali Kenyans,
who can find it difficult to obtain a Kenyan passport.
Gunman walks past ruined building
Much of Somalia is in ruins after years of fighting
Other nationals who are known to have used the Somali passport include
Ethiopians and Eritreans, who resemble Somalis.
And this is why Kenya has announced that it will no longer respect
Somali passports.
The country has twice been hit by terror attacks.
They fear that the easy availability of the Somali passport would make
it possible for would-be attackers to operate freely within their
country.
But the ban has badly affected Somali traders, who travel to Kenya to
buy their merchandise, often from Garissa Lodge in the Nairobi suburb
of Eastleigh.
At this market you can buy just about anything from modern electronic
equipment to fake university degrees.
Many traders in this market used their Somali passports to travel to
Far East countries such as China, Thailand and Taiwan for their supply
of commodities.
Since the ban was announced, numbers at this previously busy market
have sharply declined many stalls are now empty.
Medical treatment
Hussein Adan Arab, one of the traders at the market, said that they had
not got any supplies from anywhere for the past two weeks following
their immobility caused by the passport ban.
"We have been forced to raise the prices of goods so as to stay in
business longer," he said.
Haji Hassan Gulleid, chairman of the Eastleigh business community, says
that Kenya has lost out because of the drop in trade. "Our brothers in
Somalia were entirely dependent on us and now after this step by our
government cannot get in or out of our country," says Haji Gulleid,
himself a Kenyan national.
He called the ban "ill-advised and inhumane", saying that many Somali
nationals also went to Kenya to get services that they cannot get in
their country including medication and access to international flights
abroad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3704127.stm
