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Ethnic Stratification and Clan Supremacy: The Plight of the Somali Refugees in Kenya

Mohamed A. Eno

Since independence and unification of British and Italian Somaliland into the Republic of Somalia in mid of 1960, the political leadership of the Horn of Africa peninsula rested in the hands of the pastoral culture from the north of the capital, Mogadishu. Inebriated with lust for power, pride for nobility and a long search for supremacy over the southern communities, the pastoral elites mismanaged public resources, utilizing it in a manner not different from the milk one accesses from his privately owned she-camel. An ensuing destructive war has caused displacement and huge migration in search of a safe haven in the neighboring countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya and elsewhere across the continent. Upon reaching the refugee camps, the pastoral Somalis embarked on the resurrection of clan stratification, supremacy and self-ennoblement, glories that were lost during their ousting from the leadership in the country. This paper intends to present the plight of the Somali refugees, particularly in Kenya, the struggle for leadership in the refugee camp, while giving some insights of how a United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) staff syndicate engaged themselves in exploiting the vulnerable refugees by selling them resettlement opportunities to live in the West. Finally, the study will shed some light on the resettlement of oppressed and minority Somali communities in the United States of America.