Somalia: Information regarding seven members of the Somali Soccer team who asked for asylum in Kenya but were returned back to Somalia
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 May 1990 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | SOM5572 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Somalia: Information regarding seven members of the Somali Soccer team who asked for asylum in Kenya but were returned back to Somalia, 1 May 1990, SOM5572, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab4884.html [accessed 25 May 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. |
After the Somali Soccer team competed in the eight-nation East and Central African Challenge Cup in Kenya, seven members of the said team asked for political asylum in Kenya. [
FootnoteS:
"Somali Soccer Players Unpunished Despite Asylum Plea", Reuters, The Reuter Library Report, 11 February 1989. Attached.] They had applied for political asylum at the office of the UNHCR stating that they feared forced conscription into the Somali army. [ Ibid.]
The UNHCR office reported, "we have expressed serious concern at the highest levels of the Kenyan government about the seven Somalis who we at UNHCR regard as refugees". [ "U.N. Protests Kenya's Return of Somali Asylum Seekers", Reuters, The Reuter Library Report, 15 February 1989. Attached.] UNHCR had reportedly handed the soccer players to the Kenyan authorities to go through the regular process which they were not permitted to do. [Ibid.] The UNHCR stated its concern that the soccer players may have been unduly pressured to return to Somalia. [Ibid.]
Five of the seven soccer players, claiming that enemies of the Somali Democratic Republic (SDR) had deceived them into applying for political asylum, asked for the forgiveness of the Somali people upon arrival back into Somalia. [ "Somalia: Defecting Footballers Claim Deception", FBIS Daily Report Sub-Saharan Africa, Washington: Foreign Broadcast Information Service, FBIS-AFR-89-030, 16 February 1989, p.6. Attached.] The other two soccer players, unwilling to return to Somalia, went into hiding. [ FBIS 15 February 1989, FBIS-AFR-89-030, p.2. Attached.] They stated their names as Mr. Hassan Seek Abdi and Shafici Ahmed Yequb. Further information is available in the attachments provided.
Names of the other soccer players are currently unavailable to the IRBDC.
