Somalia: 1) Treatment of relatives of exiled members of the pre-Barre government, if outspoken against Barre; 2) Possible treatment of returnee to Somalia; 3) Information on the Galadi or Greladi tribe in the Afgoi area of Somalia
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 July 1989 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | SOM1445 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Somalia: 1) Treatment of relatives of exiled members of the pre-Barre government, if outspoken against Barre; 2) Possible treatment of returnee to Somalia; 3) Information on the Galadi or Greladi tribe in the Afgoi area of Somalia, 1 July 1989, SOM1445, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ace034.html [accessed 8 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
1) In August 1987, the Department of External Affairs sent a memo to the Refugee Status Advisory Committee in which it stated that relatives and siblings of those being persecuted do not seem to encounter much problem. However, given the treatment of Somali dissidents in general, it can be reasonably assumed that anyone-a relative of an exiled former Somali official or notwho is outspoken in criticizing the Barre administration will encounter ill treatment. A recent Amnesty International report on detention without trial in Somalia mentions that a member of the pre-Barre parliament, Yusuf Osman Samantar, had been detained since May 1975, because of his non-violent criticism of the government and his refusal to support it.
2) In October 1987 a unsuccessful asylum-seeker who had been returned to Somalia from Norway was arrested on arrival by the National Security Service. The person was detained for two months and tortured during interrogation about the unsuccessful refugee claim and alleged contacts with the Somali National Movement. [Amnesty International, International Report 1988, London: Amnesty International Publications, 1988, p. 69.] The attached excerpt from the Amnesty International publication Somalia: A Long-Term Human Rights Crisis provides details of the treatment given a Somali who was returned to his country after an unsuccessful asylum attempt. In addition, both the Department of State (U.S.) Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, and the attached Amnesty International Urgent Action, dated 7 September 1988, mention the case of the five Somali military cadets who attempted to claim refugee status in Egypt and were detained upon their forcible return to Somalia. The Amnesty International report further states that other Somalis who had unsuccessfully applied for asylum abroad are known to have been tortured after their forcible repatriation. The Department of State report, for its part, cautions that while in 1988 President Barre offered an amnesty to anti-government Somalis returning from foreign countries, based on the experience of previous years, some of these Somalis fear imprisonment upon return.
3) The Geledi tribe is part of one of two predominantly agricultural clans in Somalia, the Digil. Historical references to the tribe are contained in the attached excerpts from Somalia: Nation in Search of a State.
