http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-219490,00.html
> T WAS the stuff American dreams are made on. A few weeks ago, Yussuf > Hussein, a Somali who came to the United States in his teens, was > living in Boston with his wife and two children, earning $70,000 > (#43,000) working for a computer software company. > > Now, he and more than 30 other American-Somali men are holed up in a > squalid hotel costing $2 per night in downtown south Mogadishu, without > either money or passport, determined to return home. > > In late January, officers of the Immigration Naturalisation Service > arrived unannounced at the offices of Intel Corp and arrested Mr > Hussein. They refused to tell him what he had been charged with, taking > him instead to a cell without access to a lawyer or a telephone. He has > not been able to contact his family since. > > 'It was three days after Black Hawk Down was released (on January 18),' > he said of Ridley Scott's film depicting the ill-fated mission of the > US Rangers on October 3, 1993, to bring peace to Somalia and destroy > the grip of the warlords. > > His is the tale of about three dozen American-Somalis who have been > sent back to Somalia by the US without charge or reason. All, except > for one woman, are young men who emigrated with their families to > America as young teenagers or babies to escape almost a decade of civil > war. > > Not under arrest yet and without any means, many are heading north to > escape across the Somalian border and make the long journey home to > America. But even if they survive the journey, they have no money nor > papers to prove their existence. > > Somalia, still on the verge of anarchy after a decade of civil war and > vicious internecine clan fighting, has become a dumping ground for > deportees from America and the Middle East. These American-Somali > refugees arrived last week in Mogadishu without any means of support. > All had been taken from their homes or offices across America, brought > by air marshal to Buffalo, New York, and then transported by a hired > Dutch crew first to Amsterdam, later Djibouti and finally Somalia. > They claim to have been denied their basic civil rights, beaten and > threatened with injected sedatives 'if we caused any problems'. > > 'We were not allowed to make any telephone calls,' Abdulrazak Allen, > 23, from Atlanta, said. 'I was taken from my classroom and met with an > immigration officer. The next thing I know I was here. I don't even > speak the language.' > > En route, the men were shackled. Several say that they were drugged > during the flight. Medication, including insulin for one of the > deportees, a diabetic, as well as anti- depressants, were taken away. > Their cash was frozen and they were issued with cheques that they are > unable to cash. > > When the group arrived in Djibouti last Sunday they met the local press > who announced to the public, 'come and meet the Somali terrorists'. > > 'They kept asking if we knew any al-ittihad,' said Jama Jama Jaffar, > referring to an Islamic group in Somalia that has links to al-Qaeda. > 'They kept asking if we knew people who killed people in Somalia. I > kept telling them that I left Somalia in 1978! I don't know anybody.' > > His first phone call on arrival was to his mother in America to send > him some cash. 'I am not a stand up guy,' says another. 'I have a > misdemeanour for car theft. But I am not a terrorist, and I know no one > connected with any terrorist organisation.' > > The men, aged between 19 and 34, are afraid to walk the streets of > Mogadishu as any foreigner here is met with hostility. As one Somali > put it, 'these men are not Somalis. You can tell a mile off they are > from America, and people here do not like Americans.' They are unarmed > and cannot hire militias to protect them as the few other foreigners > who arrive here are obliged to do. > > Amnesty International said it was not aware of the plight of the > Somali-Americans, but a spokesman in London said that there had been > several other cases of Pakistanis being deported from America in > dubious circumstances. > > The Immigration and Naturalisation Service said last night it would > look into the claims. A spokesman could not confirm that the > deportations had taken place but pointed out that under US law any > individual who commits certain crimes and is not a naturalised citizen > is liable to be deported. > > The families of most of the men are taking legal action, though this is > hampered by their lack of means. The key to their case, they say, is > that under international law it is illegal to deport people to a > country without a central government. > > There is no central command in Somalia. The Transitional Government is > recognised by some Arab countries and grudgingly by the United Nations, > but not by Europe or America. It controls only part of Mogadishu and a > small coastal strip while the rest of the country consists of two > breakaway regions and a land littered with warlords.
