Durable Solutions: Perspectives of Somali Refugees Living in Kenyan and Ethiopian Camps and Selected Communities of Return

Continued crises of governance in Somalia since the early 1990’s have provoked several episodes of large-scale internal and external displacement (Menkhaus, 2008: 4, 21). More than a quarter of Somalia’s population has been forced to flee. As commonly observed in large-scale displacement situations, the majority has moved to a safer area within the country, but large numbers have also fled to another country. As of August 2012, some 1.36 million people were displaced within Somalia, and more than a million, mostly from south-central Somalia, had claimed asylum in another country (UNHCR Information portal, 13 Sept. 2012; UNDESA, 2011: 31).
A significant number of Somali refugees have been living in Kenyan and Ethiopian camps for up to two decades. Encampment policies limiting refugees’ freedom of movement and access to labour markets have undermined the quality of the asylum offered in both countries. Camps, usually considered temporary, have turned into a de facto long-term solution. In Kenya, nearly half a million refugees live in Dadaab and Kakuma camps. In Ethiopia, camps in the Somali region, near Jijiga and Dolo Ado, host some 211,000 refugees (UNHCR Information portal, 13 Sept. 2012).
Repatriation, local integration and resettlement prospects are limited for refugees in camps1. Large-scale formal local integration is improb- able for politico-historical reasons and resettlement is only offered to a small proportion of refugees. Repatriation, which is not necessarily the optimal solution for all, is likely to be the only option available to the vast majority. Yet, conditions in Somalia are not currently conducive for a sustainable return. While there has been political change in the situation in south-central Somalia in recent months, notably with presidential elections in August 2012, stability and safety remain uncertain and their lasting character will only be established with time.