Hassan mentioned Islam as the main element linking ethnic Somalis from Kenya and Somalia. 109. 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. Furthermore, some elements of this meta-image are linked to Somalian refugees the increase in numbers as well as the idea of economic strength, the latter concerning a small, but visible, minority. 14. Political competition linked to the re-introduction of multi-party politics as well as tensions between local communities and refugees over environmental degradation, jobs, and access to servicesFootnote34 led to several violent conflicts. Ethnicity is a highly relevant category for political discussions and practices in Kenya, not only during elections, but also, for example, for the allocation of positions in the public sector. 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. This paper is based on research into the interlinkages of different groups of ethnic Somalis in Kenyan urban centres, using the example of Nakuru, the fourth biggest city of Kenya (and to some extent Nairobi and Mombasa). ), 5.74% (2021 est. )proven reserves: 0 metric tons (2019 est. 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. One of the biggest took place in April 2014 as usalama watch (security watch), when police went to urban neighbourhoods where ethnic Somalis live to arrest foreign nationals and terrorism suspects.Footnote74 The government also used extra-judicial killings and disappearances mainly in the northeastern region, returning to strategies employed under emergency regulations.Footnote75 Thirdly, the border to Somalia was temporarily closed and in 2015 Kenya started to build a wall along it. Shocking Sexual Violence Against Women in Ogaden Somalia - Clans Even though these statistics do not allow conclusions to be drawn about identification processes in daily life, they hint at the desire by Kenyan Somalis to be accepted as ordinary citizens of the state. One Imam in Nakuru,Footnote97 for instance, who was born nearby Garissa, went to a local state primary school and then to different Islamic educational institutes on the coast, in Garissa and 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. McIntosh argues that one way for white Kenyans to claim Kenyanness is to appeal to a cosmopolitan ideal, a civic nationalism, in which all groups invested in the nation are equally welcome.Footnote113 As it was shown, the citizen-making instruments of the state in the last decade discussed with taking the example of the census and the elections reflect in content and usage the imagination of Kenya as a nation of diversity. The establishment of Jubbaland in 2013 cemented the return of Ogaden political relevance to Somalia. 8. Lind et al., Killing a Mosquito, 1516. Differences in the way Kenyan Somalis respond to the alternating incorporation into and alienation from society can be found within the very same family. ), China 27%, India 11%, United Arab Emirates 7%, Japan 4%, Saudi Arabia 3% (2020), refined petroleum, palm oil, broadcasting equipment, packaged medicines, cars (2020), $9.491 billion (31 December 2021 est. This argument was already raised in 1974 during a discussion about the motion Compulsary birth registration for Isiolo and Marsabit Somali (Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, May 17, 1974, p. 1408). )consumption: 821,000 metric tons (2020 est. This perception was not only linked to a feeling of cultural proximity, but also to personal contacts which are often clan-centred. 83. When applying the population growth of Kenya (3.2%), a conservative approach ignoring the high number in children in many Somali families, to the census figures from 1962 (about 270,000 counted as Somali), one should have expected to count about 640,000 people. In Nakuru, I met several families neither registered with the UNHCR nor the Kenyan state. The Portuguese were pushed out in the late 1600s by the combined forces of Oman and Pate, an island off the coast. By around the 9th century, the mix of Africans, Arabs, and Persians who lived and traded there became known as Swahili ("people of the coast") with a distinct language (KiSwahili) and culture. 11. )$233.852 billion (2020 est. The position of Kenyan Somalis is, to speak in Yiftachel terms, situated in gray spaces, between the whiteness of legality or approval, and the blackness of eviction or destruction. )industrial: 300 million cubic meters (2020 est. 62. In the case of Kenyan Somalis, this notion is further complicated. (Kiswahili), Christian 85.5% (Protestant 33.4%, Catholic 20.6%, Evangelical 20.4%, African Instituted Churches 7%, other Christian 4.1%), Muslim 10.9%, other 1.8%, none 1.6%,don'tknow/no answer0.2% (2019 est.). )$234.438 billion (2019 est. Population and demographic of Mandera County: Garissa counry is 620,000 whereas Wajeer county is 660,000. From Kenyan Somalis urbanized during the colonial time, this meta-image derives the legal notion of alienness, and from the Somalis of the northeastern region the tropes of violent opposition to the state and of cultural difference. As a result, this area remained separated from the rest of Kenya and was ruled under emergency regulations. The Ogadeen are the single largest Somali clan family in both Kenya and Ethiopia and are highly politically influential in both countries. Population [ edit] According to the 2019 Kenya census, approximately 2,780,502 ethnic Somalis live in Kenya. Basil Kimutai on Twitter: "Kenya's young and growing population )imports: 0 cubic meters (2021 est. 28. Kenyan Somalis played an increasing (yet still small) role in political administration, as they were seen as neutral, as not connected to one of the influential ethnic groups. )-$4.792 billion (2020 est. The first part of the paper gives a short historical overview of the socio-political position of the Somali population of Kenya, while the second part deals with three of the states citizen-making instruments crucial over the last decade: the census of 2009, the elections of 2013, and the move towards securitization since 2013, following terrorist attacks on Kenyan soil. 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). A prominent figure of the Muslim Association of Nakuru, for instance, spoke about our Somalis as opposed to Somalis when talking about conflicts in the Muslim community (interviewed September 2012). 4.5% vs 7.1% 33.22million larger labor force? 5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG. Yet devolution also led to new power struggles. ), total subscriptions: 61,096 (2021 est. note: data are in current year dollars$11.471 billion (2019 est. 85. Its regional capital is Garbahaarreey. The latter is often connected to a nomadic lifestyle, which tends to ignore national borders,Footnote89 adding to the perception of disloyality to the soil. [3] Anderson, Remembering Wagalla, 662663. It was created in 1974 [2] and is bordered by the Ogaden in Ethiopia, the North Eastern Province in Kenya, and the Somali regions of Bakool, Bay, Jubbada Dhexe (Middle Juba), and Jubbada Hoose (Lower Juba) further down east. In 2013, presidential elections coincided with the new county-level elections, intensifying this feature of Kenya politics. Cheesman et al., Decentralisation in Kenya, 15. )biomass and waste: 1.2% of total installed capacity (2020 est. 92. This notion laid the basis for rendering all Kenyan Somalis as non-native Africans after independence.Footnote81 In the late 1990s and early 2000s Somali Members of Parliament spoke about a policy of apartheid and of biological nationalism.Footnote82 The only other group having such an in-between status are Nubians,Footnote83 who have to go through a similar vetting process when applying for national identification documents, which includes not only the presentation of numerous documents (such as parents birth certificates), but also the recognition by a chief to indeed belong to the local community.Footnote84, The racial component also plays out in the daily life of Kenyan Somalis. The British labelled Somalis coming from British Somaliland and Aden the Alien Somali,Footnote13 a term later frequently used to describe all urbanized Somalis, excluding them from the general definition of native.Footnote14 This categorization as non-native not only resulted from their intermediary status in the socio-economic hierarchy due to their service to the colonial state,Footnote15 but also from their own attempts to be treated as Asians, set apart from the African population.Footnote16, After independence, the Kenyan state continued to treat Somalis as not quite belonging to the state. [9] History [ edit] Pre-colonial era [ edit] For Somalians, Kenyan Somalis are Somali sijui, Somali who do not know (neither Somali language nor culture), brothers and sisters, but not real Somalis. This was the time when economic and political developments in Somalia had begun to look more promising than before.Footnote107 Just a short while before she had told me that there were three groups of Somalis in Nakuru: those from Somalia, those from Kenya, and returnees. agriculture: 34.5% (2017 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. )crude oil and lease condensate exports: 0 bbl/day (2018 est. While this could be interpreted as just another example of the ethnicized Kenyan public, for Kenyan Somalis incidents such as this accentuate their feeling of not belonging to the society. However, fellow Kenyans at times treat him essentially as (ethnic) Somali. note: data are in current year dollars$9.709 billion (2020 est.) Ibrahim, The Checkered History, 1617; Interview with Nabiil, Nakuru, October 2010. less than 1, total subscriptions: 65,085,720 (2021 est. 76. 4. There had been warnings that were not taken seriously concerning the attacks on the Westgate Mall (2013), the coastal town Mpeketoni close to Lamu (2014), as well as on the Garissa University College (2015).Footnote69 Moreover, when the Kenyan security apparatus reacted, it did so in an incoherent and chaotic way.Footnote70 Instead of improving coordination between the multiple security agencies, political actors responded in the same manner as before by blaming terrorism on Somali refugees in particular and the Somali inhabitants of Kenya in general, externalizing insecurity by utilizing the image of Somalis as ambiguous citizens, ignoring that many of the attackers were neither Kenyan Somalis nor Somali nationals.Footnote71. Fitch rating: B+ (2007)Moody's rating: B2 (2018)Standard & Poors rating: B+ (2010)note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained. 24. Kenya - The World Factbook - CIA )subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 123 (2021 est. 105. See for instance the 2016 exhibition Who I Am, Who We Are in Nairobi and an article in the Daily Nation discussing this exhibition. In 2013 it was merged with the Ministry of Devolution and Planning. If you are coming from a very different background, its difficult to match the same level. Ogaden (clan) - Wikipedia Almost 40% of Kenyans are under the age of 15 as of 2020 because of sustained high fertility, early marriage and childbearing, and an unmet need for family planning. )from petroleum and other liquids: 16.459 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est. )imports of goods and services: -25.5% (2017 est. This inability to speak Somali was true even though Abdullahis brothers mainly lived within Somali circles: their closest contacts were members of the extended kin network and of their own clan and the flat in which Abdullahi was living was situated in a Somali middle class neighbourhood. 103. Remembering the Ogaden War 45 Years Later: Four and a Half Lessons )5.11% (2019 est. Although some Kenyan Somalis are part of the socio-economic and political elite of Kenya, they remain trapped in the position of ambiguous citizens, not part of the nation, but also not outside it. 61. 16. He is working as a project manager in an IT company, even though had never gone to university due to financial reasons. For example, R. Warah, Census data on Kenyan Asians raises more questions than answers, Daily Nation, 5 September 2010, http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Census-data-on-Kenyan-Asians-raises-more-questions-than-answers-/440808-1004396-v1yqaw/index.html; See also Jerven, Poor Numbers, 73. The system we have gone through, the schooling, brings people closer together, the way we understand things. Aminas mother tries to support the family by running a textile shop in one of the Somali shopping centres, but money is always scarce. In Dadaab: refugees v locals | Global development | The Guardian The most credible attempt at talks to end decades of armed conflict in Ogaden may soon . ), municipal: 500 million cubic meters (2020 est. Ethiopia vs Kenya: What is the difference? Horn of Africa. McIntosh, Autochthony and Family, 253. Burns, Feeling the Pinch; HRW, Death and Disappearances, 14, Lind et al., Killing a Mosquito, 2, 10. 38. Both solutions are characterized by instability and insecurity. They share this cleavage with other Kenyan Muslims, especially coastal Arabs and Swahili. 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. The successful candidate must secure 25% of votes in more than half of the counties, turning northeastern counties into swing regions. Carrier and Kochore, Navigating Ethnicity, 144. The Sands of the Ogaden Are Blowing Across East Africa This figure, however, seems too low. )exports: 0 metric tons (2020 est. Ogaden's recent history is also clouded by conflict that has killed thousands. Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard), Parliamentary Debates, July 14, 1999, p. 1327 and October 24, 2001, p. 2713. The constitution of 2010 not only stressed the idea of political inclusion of all citizens and groups, but also resulted, for instance, in a new Citizenship and Integration Act (2011), which provided among others for dual citizenship. note: data are in current year dollars$17.717 billion (2020 est.) )$8.297 billion (31 December 2020 est. 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. ), $4,700 (2021 est. 44. P. Leftie and J. Otieno, How North Eastern Figures Went Wrong, Daily Nation, 1 September 2010. http://www.nation.co.ke/news/How-North-Eastern-figures-went-wrong-/1056-1001530-1d3tow/index.html. )103.41 (2017 est. McIntosh, Autochthony and Family, 257. Letter of the chief secretary Turnbull to the Secretary of the East African Ishakia Association, July 1955; ADM 15/1/14/87A (Kenya National Archives, Nakuru). The region has an estimated population of about 4.5 million. relatively successful government counter-insurgency campaign - have exhausted the local Ethiopian-Somali population sufficiently to push the ONLF back to the table. In the colonial classification, urbanized alien Somalis neither counted as European, nor as truly Asian or as clearly African, but as something in between, not fitting the categories. Letter by B. Jommo, Cross-ethnic and Proud of Ourselves, Daily Nation, 14 August 2009. http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Letters/440806-639674-8crbl7z/index.html. Register a free Taylor & Francis Online account today to boost your research and gain these benefits: Ambiguous citizens: Kenyan Somalis and the question of belonging, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Department Integration and Conflict, Halle (Saale), Germany, Accidental Citizens: Etherealizing Securitized Identities of Somalis in Kenya; Contesting Representation, Identity and Belonging, Marginal Actors? Did you know that with a free Taylor & Francis Online account you can gain access to the following benefits? 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. 77. The vision of a unified Kenya gained importance after the violence that followed the elections of 2007. Full article: Who are Kenya's 42(+) tribes? The census and the Daily Nation, Security laws illegal, declares High Court, 23 February 2015. http://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Security-laws-illegal-declares-High-Court/1064-2633342-jw2qp1/index.html. Trade centers such as Mombasa have existed along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coastlines, known as the Land of Zanj, since at least the 2nd century. 99. Walaal means sister or brother in Somali and is, similar to warya, a reminder of difference. KHRC, Foreigners at home, 42. Concerning Somali shopping centres see Scharrer and Carrier, Giving Informality Room.. IEBC, Post-election Evaluation Report, 72. Kenyas stagnant economy and political problems during the 1980s and 1990s led to an outpouring of Kenyan students and professionals seeking permanent opportunities in the West and southern Africa. They did so out of feelings of alienation, but also due to the perception that they were losing out to Kenyan Somalis from the northeastern region, who at this time acquired higher positions in the Kenyan administration.Footnote102 Furthermore, the economic situation of Kenya deteriorated in the 1990s and many families feared to lose their (lower) middle class status which they had preserved after independence.Footnote103 Renewed interest in moving away resulted from the securitized policy of the Kenyan state since 2013.Footnote104 To go to Europe, the two brothers had to become more Somali by learning the language properly. )from coal and metallurgical coke: 1.25 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est. Morgan, "Ethnic Geography of Kenya," 79. But counting ethnic affiliation also created opportunities for the negotiation of belonging to Kenya. This was mainly the result of the shifta conflict of 1963 to 1967, in which inhabitants of the Northern Frontier District attempted to secede from Kenya. The Ogaden (Somali: Ogaadeen, Arabic: ) is a Somali clan, and one of the largest Darod subclans. 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. Formula Narratives and the Making of Social Stratification and Inequality, The Ogaden and the Fragility of Somali Segmentary Nationalism, Killing a Mosquito with a Hammer: Al-Shabaab Violence and State Security Responses in Kenya, Between a Protracted and a Crisis Situation: Policy Responses to Somali Refugees in Kenya, Rendering Difference Visible: The Kenyan State and its Somali Citizens, Soil, Work, Civilisation, and Citizenship in Kenya, Autochthony and Family: The Politics of Kinship in White Kenyan Bids to Belong. The term Somali is used as an umbrella term, applied to a very heterogeneous population. The biggest group of Somalis moving to the cities were therefore not refugees, but Kenyan Somalis whose migration resulted partly from the changing structures in the northeastern region. Talking Peace in the Ogaden | Rift Valley Institute Otherwise the background can have a very big impact on somebodys life.Footnote95. . At the same time, new trade routes emerged between Kenya and Somalia. )crude oil estimated reserves: 0 barrels (2021 est. Lind et al., Killing a Mosquito, 15. Visit the Definitions and Notes page to view a description of each topic. The host population within a 50km radius of the refugee complex has been growing at a rate of 11.7% per year since the refugees moved into Dadaab, according to a study commissioned by the Kenyan. Examples are Aden Duale, who became the Majority Leader of the National Assembly, Amina Mohammed Jibril, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Adan Mohammed, Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization. )subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: (2021 est.) Interviews with Mzee Jamal and with Nabiil, Nakuru, October 2010. The widespread use of rape in Ogaden has . Their presence also transformed the urban retail sector, which changed in the 1990s due to Somali traders and the establishment of Somali shopping centres.Footnote38 With this visible presence of Somalis in the economic and political sphere, anti-Somali sentiments have grown stronger, culminating in fears that Somalis are taking over KenyaFootnote39 and that Kenya is colonized by refugees.Footnote40 These fears are not only strong among the Christian population, but also among Muslims, whose communities experienced changed power relations due to the immigration of Somalis to the cities. 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. A. Abdullahi, Kenyan Somalis are Treated Like Second-class Citizens, Daily Nation, 12 April 2014. http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Kenyan-Somalis-treated-like-second-class-citizens-/440808-2277348-pj74alz/index.html. 240.71$ billion vs 190.97$ billion 18.01% fewer people living below the poverty line? The adjusted numbers published later are still considered dubious by many.Footnote53 Weitzberg has shown how problematic census results were already in colonial times.Footnote54 For nomadic populations, underreporting was observed frequently, as the census logic is linked to a sedentary lifestyle. Who this term refers to, and if it means insider or outsider, depends on the circumstances.Footnote109 The diverse images of Somalis in Kenya, resulting from different historical trajectories, are aggregated in a meta-image of the ambiguous citizen. All Somalis were required to register and to prove their belonging, consolidating their position as ambiguous citizens.Footnote17 The various counterinsurgency measures taken by the Kenyan state had severe economic impacts and to this day, the northeastern region remains one of the least developed, producing a dual exclusion of both the region and its people,Footnote18 with the regular internal checkpoint in Garissa still resembling a border station to Kenya for many Somalis.Footnote19, Outside of the northeastern region, urbanized Kenyan Somalis also felt marginalized: they were not only held responsible for the secessionist movement, but also lost the socio-economic status they had occupied in pre-independence society. Sometimes the status of insider is almost impossible to reach. According to Human Rights . )101.302 (2018 est. HRW, Death and Disappearances, 1213. Therefore, the 2013 election campaigns brought a considerable electoral focusto the north.Footnote62 The prospect of economic development arising from Kenyas Vision 2030, with its special dedication to the north, increased the relevance of the elections further. Almost 40% of Kenyans are under the age of 15 as of 2020 because of sustained high fertility, early marriage and childbearing, and an unmet need for family planning. Last but not least the term ambiguous citizenship encapsulates different dimensions of citizenship while people can be treated as belonging in some of them, they are not necessarily categorized as citizens in others. )geothermal: 46.2% of total installed capacity (2020 est. 2005 - PAGE 173, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, Neustadt International Prize for Literature, "2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Volume IV: Distribution of Population by Socio-Economic Characteristics", "Somalia: Minorities and indigenous peoples", "Clanship and Contract in Northern Somaliland", "Somalia Maps - Perry-Castaeda Map Collection - UT Library Online", http://www.doollo.com/mainpage/sayidmaxamed/xasanowhubqaadaye.htm, "Collective Punishment: War Crimes and crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia's Somali Regional State", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ogaden_(clan)&oldid=1150490853, Articles needing cleanup from August 2022, Articles with bare URLs for citations from August 2022, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from August 2022, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Articles needing additional references from May 2019, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2022, "Related ethnic groups" needing confirmation, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 April 2023, at 13:56. )imports: 277 million kWh (2019 est. 54. Cheeseman et al., Decentralisation in Kenya, 3. 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. )investment in inventories: -1% (2017 est. )imports: 822,000 metric tons (2020 est. ), total: 20 yearsmale: 19.9 yearsfemale: 20.1 years (2020 est. Lewis, The Ogaden, 578; But cf. Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). ), 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. Terrorist Attacks in Kenya Reveal Domestic Radicalization Kenyan Somalis seem to be ambiguous in both of them. Secondly, there are urbanized Somalis whose ancestors settled in the colonial towns. Kenya's special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Ambassador Ali Bunow Korane, confirmed recently that the Ethiopian government and leadership of the ONLF have agreed to meet. 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. ), -$5.744 billion (2021 est. These social networks, therefore, not only separate Kenyan Somalis from fellow Kenyans, but also from Somalians. [7] The Ogaden clan "constitutes the backbone of the ONLF ". 68. The Somalis who live in North Eastern Province of Greater Somalia in the present day Kenya are close to three million (3,000,000) in the 2019 Kenya National Census with another 400,000 Somalia refugees in several Kenya refugee camps. 10. Fifty years of abuse and neglect is too long to endure. )methane emissions: 37.65 megatons (2020 est.