This perception was not only linked to a feeling of cultural proximity, but also to personal contacts which are often clan-centred. N. Rugene and D. Kalinaki, Abdul Hajis Mission to Rescue Brother Blessing for Westgate Hostages. Daily Nation, 25 September 2013. http://www.nation.co.ke/news/How-Abdul-Haji-rescued-Westgate-hostages/1056-2007316-5ol57g/index.html. The system we have gone through, the schooling, brings people closer together, the way we understand things. It was terrible, I became crazy. 21. 5. )53.2% of GDP (2016 est. Throughout the paper the term Somali is used when referring to the ethnic category, the term Somalian as a national category denotes people coming from Somalia. It also evokes the oscillating political treatment of Kenyan Somalis by the state, and the manifold ways in which Kenyan Somalis react to it. 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). )exports: 16 million kWh (2019 est. 88. Due to the years of war and negligence by the Ethiopian government, the quality of life in the Ogaden region has deteriorated. 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. ), fresh water lake(s): Lake Victoria (shared with Tanzania and Uganda) - 62,940 sq kmsalt water lake(s): Lake Turkana (shared with Ethiopia) - 6,400 sq km, Atlantic Ocean drainage: (Mediterranean Sea) Nile (3,254,853 sq km), population heavily concentrated in the west along the shore of Lake Victoria; other areas of high density include the capital of Nairobi, and in the southeast along the Indian Ocean coast as shown in this population distribution map, recurring drought; flooding during rainy seasons, volcanism: limited volcanic activity; the Barrier (1,032 m) last erupted in 1921; South Island is the only other historically active volcano, the Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa; glaciers are found on Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak; unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value; Lake Victoria, the world's largest tropical lake and the second largest fresh water lake, is shared among three countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, Kikuyu 17.1%, Luhya 14.3%, Kalenjin 13.4%, Luo 10.7%, Kamba 9.8%, Somali 5.8%, Kisii 5.7%, Mijikenda 5.2%, Meru 4.2%, Maasai 2.5%, Turkana 2.1%,non-Kenyan 1%, other 8.2% (2019 est. The figures concerning the North Eastern Province, where most Kenyan Somalis lived, were later nullified, following claims that they were not reliable. )female: 2.7% (2020 est. But it is not that Kenyan Somalis dont want to be part of Kenya. Chau, The Fourth Point, 308. )$234.438 billion (2019 est. 25. 1. By 2050, this number is forecast to almost double, and the country will be home to some 92.6. 49. McIntosh, Autochthony and Family, 257. This prevalence of extended kin-networks and of living in co-ethnic neighbourhoods is, however, not only true for Kenyan Somalis, but widespread in Kenya (and beyond). 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. Concerning Kenyan Somalis there are a number of additional issues at stake: high levels of non-compliance were reported during earlier censuses; the classification of who is recorded as Somali has changed over the time, making results difficult to compare; and finally, growing sedentarization poses further questions of comparability.Footnote55 At the same time, research shows how important the census is for the politics of recognition.Footnote56, Elections are another crucial moment for the politics of belonging in Kenya. UNPO: Ogaden: International Unawareness About Genocidal Campaign In )permanent pasture: 37.4% (2018 est. The majority of ethnic Somalis lived in the eastern half of the Northern Frontier District (NFD),Footnote11 a semi-arid region governed as a closed district by the British, keeping its mainly pastoral inhabitants away from the southern part of the colony.Footnote12 Outside of the Northern Frontier District ethnic Somalis, mainly from British Somaliland, were living in the newly developed towns. Refworld | Somalia: Information on the Ogaden clan in Somaliland The most credible attempt at talks to end decades of armed conflict in Ogaden may soon . Afrobarometer Data, Kenya, R3R7, 2005/062016/18. )$9.116 billion (31 December 2019 est. Interviews with Mzee Jamal and with Nabiil, Nakuru, October 2010. 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. Hassan mentioned Islam as the main element linking ethnic Somalis from Kenya and Somalia. In 1993, a Somali parliamentarian narrated a justification he was given by the Principal Immigration officer after Somalis were barred from entering the passport-issuing office: A Somali, whether from Somalia or from Kenya, is a Somali because mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka [The child of a snake is a snake].Footnote110 These processes of inclusion and exclusion can take place almost simultaneously. ), degree of risk: very high (2023)food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fevervectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and Rift Valley feverwater contact diseases: schistosomiasisanimal contact diseases: rabies, total: 1.68 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est. )investment in inventories: -1% (2017 est. The vision of a unified Kenya gained importance after the violence that followed the elections of 2007. In the last decade, the government has slowly become more attentive to this region, for instance by the establishment of a Ministry of Northern Kenya and other Arid Areas in 2008.Footnote35 In addition, in 2009, the LAPSSET (Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport) project was announced, aiming at the creation of a infrastructure network linking the northern regions to central Kenya and therefore ideally becoming a means through which northerners could be drawn into the nation proper.Footnote36, The immigration of Somalian refugees enabled more contacts between Kenyan Somalis and Somalians, yet it also led Kenyan Somalis to realign questions of Kenyanness and belonging. In high school she played soccer, and she likes walking around in town, even though people recurrently whisper walaal in her direction.Footnote106 For some time, she had a Nubian boyfriend nobody knew about. The establishment of Jubbaland in 2013 cemented the return of Ogaden political relevance to Somalia. Lochery, Rendering Difference Visible, 616. )3.09% of GDP (2020 est. AIAI's goal was to establish an Islamic government in Somalia and the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. In 2013 it was merged with the Ministry of Devolution and Planning. Simultaneously, Islam can serve as a means for claiming entitlement for higher positions in Kenyan society, a significant argument in consideration of actors with an overtly Christian commitment standing at the core of Kenyan politics. Ogaden (clan) | Somali Wiki | Fandom 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. Echoes of nationhood in the Silent Room, 24 January 2016. http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/lifestyle/Echoes-of-nationhood-in-the-Silent-Room/1214-3046604-shee9bz/index.html. Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. Nevertheless, Kenyas relative stability since its independence in 1963 has attracted hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping violent conflicts in neighboring countries; Kenya was sheltering nearly 280,000 Somali refugees as of 2022. Diaspora Somalis Negotiate Their Citizenship, Remembering Wagalla: State Violence in Northern Kenya, 19621991, Counting as Citizens: Recognition of the Nubians in the 2009 Kenyan Census, Feeling the Pinch: Kenya, Al-Shabaab, and East Africas Refugee Crisis, Urban Refugees in Nairobi: Problems of Protection, Mechanisms of Survival, and Possibilities for Integration, Navigating Ethnicity and Electoral Politics in Northern Kenya: The Case of the 2013 Election, Autochthony: Local Or Global?
