A/HRC/10/85
page 9
18. My talks with the then Vice Prime Minister, Ahmad Abdi Salan Haji, were equally
wide-ranging. Among other things, we discussed ways and means to involve the people of
Somalia directly in the peace process. We discussed at length my proposal for the use of a
participatory action research (PAR) approach in Somalia, which I had recommended in my oral
report to the Council at its ninth session. I was pleased to learn that he too is aware of the
approach and that he had already tried it effectively at several places in Somalia. I agreed to
share with him an elaboration of my idea which we could try out on a pilot basis at an
appropriate time and place.
19. In Djibouti, I had also the opportunity to talk to the ambassador of the African Union (AU)
to Somalia, Nicholas Bwakira, at some length. He reiterated the commitment of the AU to
helping the peace process in Somalia. It may be mentioned that the same message was
conveyed to me by the Chairman of the African Union, Jean Ping, whom I met last July at
AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa. My discussions with Mr. Bwakira included the need to
approach the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) for
financial and other support for an international stabilization force to fill in after the withdrawal of
Ethiopian troops from Somalia. I pledged my full cooperation in this regard. I have already
talked to the Ambassadors of the Arab League and OIC in this regard in Geneva last September
and intend to follow up with talks with senior officials at the Headquarters of these two
organizations.
III. THE SITUATION IN SOMALIA AS GLEANED FROM TALKS WITH
REFUGEES AND REFUGEE OFFICIALS IN KENYA AND YEMEN
20. As stated earlier, because of my inability to visit Somalia, I had put special emphasis on
meeting with newly arrived Somali refugees in Kenya and Yemen and find out from them about
the circumstances that led to their flight from Somalia. The following paragraphs contain some
information/impressions based on my talks with them and others involved with refugee affairs.
A. Visit to Dadaab refugee camps, Kenya
21. I visited the refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya, on 27 November 2008. I visited the same
camps during my first trip in July 2008. I have included my findings from that trip in my last
report to the Council. This time, the number of refugees had increased significantly. The arrivals
in 2008 and, more particularly in recent months, have swelled the camp population, making
Dadaab, which hosts more than 230,000 refugees, the largest refugee conglomeration in the
world. The average monthly number of arrivals of Somali refugees in Kenya recently has been
around 5,000, among the highest since the opening of the camps in 1991.
22. The reasons given by the newly arriving refugees for their decision to flee Somalia in such
large numbers are similar to those stated in my earlier report. As in the past, the majority of the
refugees I met came from Mogadishu. (According to one estimate some 870,000 persons, or
almost two-thirds of the population of Mogadishu, have now fled the city, either to become
refugees in Kenya or Yemen or displaced within Somalia.) They fled because of continued
insecurity in civilian areas. The more articulate among them blamed all the warring parties in the
conflict in Somalia - the TFG forces, the Ethiopian troops and the Islamist insurgents - for
continued violence, death and destruction. All of them are said to have pursued military tactics
without much concern about civilian population living in urban areas. The insurgents have
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