Rights group urges Kenya to stop military recruitment of refugees

Kara Weinacht
10/27/2009
4:18 PM

This article unveils a shocking phenomenon occuring in the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya- as the title says- Somali recruiters are trying to enlist the displaced population living in the refugee camp. The refugee camps supposed to be places of refuge, not a quick way to send people back into the warfare they're most likely fleeing. The Kenyan government claims no involvement, and that the government will not allow the recruitment of anyone for any work outside of Kenya, but the reporter claims that the recruiters do it openly- in markets, tea tents, the camps...promising money and that the U.N. is behind everything. However these promises aren't too promising because both sides of involvement in the Somali war are trying to recruit- not only is Somalia's Transitional Federal Government recruiting, but so are the Al Shabaab, the terrorist group opposing the Somalian government. Lastly, this is a fairly new/recent issue. The article notes that recruiters began circulating in the camps in early October.

In response to this article, I feel in awe of how desperate the Somalian government is for military forces. Realistically, we should keep in mind that the government is still in transition, but recruiting vulnerable people to go get killed is pretty manipulative for a political policy. I think it's very cunning of the Al Shabaab to recruit at the same time while this issue is still new and no one really know what's really going on. I also think that there could be a very simple solution- for the Kenyan government to get these people out of their camps- especially since it just started, and they are recruiting openly. I think that since all of this is happening in Kenya, and the article talks about the Somalian refugees like they are Kenyans, because they are residing in Kenya, that this issue is Kenya's responsibility to resolve, instead of reciting the laws and then turning a shoulder on the whole thing. A month is too long, the Kenyan government needs to get with the program and start enforcing their laws.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/25/intl.kenya.refugee.recruitment/