In bid to counter al-Shabab, Kenya tightens noose on aid efforts for Somalis

In just a month, Kenya seemed to have intensified efforts to protect its borders and bolster counterterrorism efforts against al-Shabab. In doing so, however, it has impeded the work of many humanitarian and development organizations delivering aid to thousands of Somalis within and outside Kenya’s borders. On April 2, gunmen affiliated with al-Shabab attacked Garissa University College in northern Kenya, killing more than 140 students and teachers. Five days after the attack, the Central Bank of Kenya revoked the licenses of 13 money transfer companies in the country as part of government efforts to prevent the financing of terrorism. Four days later, Kenya’s deputy president gave an ultimatum to the United Nations: Move the world’s largest refugee camp back to Somalia over the next three months or the government itself will relocate the hundreds of thousands of Somalis that have called the camp home for decades. “The way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa,” William Ruto said in a statement distributed by his press office. Somali programs at risk Many organizations doing work in Somalia are headquartered in Nairobi for security and logistical reasons. Funds are usually transferred from their Kenyan bank accounts to money transfer operators, which then send the money to one of their branches in Somalia. Because all of the MTOs doing business in Somalia have lost their licenses for the time being, Kenyan banks are forbidden to deal with them or their subsidiaries abroad. This includes Dahabshiil, Africa’s largest money transfer business. “We have to find alternative solutions, because we use money transfer operators to pay salaries and contractors, to pay rent and for all development and humanitarian activities for all of our projects,” Anne-Marie Schryer-Roy, communications and advocacy manager at Nairobi-based international nongovernmental organization Adeso, told Devex. NGOs are now weighing the options available to them. Schryer-Roy said Adeso is considering sending transfers through the United Kingdom or the United States, and that others are looking at Djibouti and Uganda. This process would be slower and more costly, as MTOs operating in Somalia have considerably lower transaction fees. “Obviously, these are not long-term solutions,” Schryer-Roy said. In a joint statement released April 10, several international NGOs, including CARE, Oxfam and World Vision, criticized the decision to shut down the MTOs. “Many of the companies whose licenses have been suspended are delivering legitimate, formal remittances to the country and should be allowed to continue their services. They should be vetted on an individual basis to ensure that they comply with Kenyan regulations,” the statement said. The MTOs have criticized the closures as well. “For the avoidance of doubt, Dahabshiil, including its Kenya operation, has no involvement whatsoever with the funding of terrorist organizations,” the company wrote in an emailed statement. The Kenyan government has given no indication as to how long the vetting process would take. Worrying concern for Somalis in Kenya International NGOs also worry the closures might affect Somali refugees living in Kenya, many of whom depend on remittances from abroad to survive. Over 460,000 Somali refugees are currently living in Kenya, a vast majority of them in Dadaab refugee camp. Kenya also hosts a large population of Somalis who may not hold refugee status, and Kenyan citizens of Somali origin. While they may use other channels to receive money, these are prohibitively costly. “These formal channels, like Western Union or international bank transfers, are much more expensive,” Emma Naylor Ngugi, CARE’s regional director for East and Central Africa, told Devex. “It means people don’t receive the money they need to receive.” But a more worrying concern for international groups is Ruto’s “request” to relocate Dadaab, which houses an estimated 650,000 Somali refugees, many of whom were born in the camp. Given Somalia’s unpredictable political climate, fragile economic and humanitarian conditions, and volatile security situation, the country is unlikely to have the resources to support the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees. The Somali government and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees both said such plans would break international laws. On April 21, the Kenyan government finally backtracked, saying the relocation would be too costly, but asked UNHCR to convene a conference in order to attract more resources for the repatriation of refugees. Dadaab has long been a point of contention between the Kenyan government and its international partners, notably because Kenyan authorities felt they never received the resources needed to host hundreds of thousands of refugees. After the September 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenyan authorities said the camp needed to be closed because it was used as a training ground for terrorists linked with al-Shabab, although these claims remain unsubstantiated. Over 2,000 refugees have since returned to Somalia as part of a tripartite agreement signed in 2013 between Kenya, Somalia and UNHCR — a number deemed too low by Kenyan authorities. CSOs under fire International observers have denounced the systematic targeting of ethnic Somalis by counterterrorism efforts. Somalis and Somali Kenyans living in Nairobi have complained of long-standing discrimination and harassment on the part of police forces. More than 4,000 individuals are thought to have been arrested and detained as part of Usalama Watch, an anti-terrorism operation launched a year ago. A statement from Amnesty International deplored that ethnic Somalis in Kenya had become “scapegoats, with thousands arrested and ill-treated, forcibly relocated and hundreds unlawfully expelled to a war-torn country.” But counterterrorism efforts are not targeted at ethnic Somalis alone. The 13 MTOs that saw their licensed revoked and bank accounts frozen April 7 were part of 86 individuals, companies and NGOs operating Kenya that have been listed as “entities suspected to be associated with al-Shabab.” This list included two human rights organizations: Muslims for Human Rights and Haki Africa. “While we support the government’s effort to also counter violent extremism, particularly in the wake of the killing of 147 Kenyans, mostly university students from Garissa University College, we consider the listing of MUHURI and Haki Africa to be an unthinking reaction to intimidate not only the two organizations but all civil society,” said a statement signed by 15 civil society organizations, including the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Watch. Both MUHURI and Haki Africa have denied any involvement with terrorist groups. According to their directors, the government’s decision to include them on the list might be retaliation for having investigated a series of extrajudicial killings in the coastal areas that have been allegedly carried out by police units. Coincidentally, the offices of MUHURI and Haki Africa in Mombasa were raided April 20 and 21 by officers of the Kenya Revenue Authorities, who said they were investigating allegations of tax evasion. They seized hard disks, computers, documents and financial files — a move qualified as “administrative harassment” by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. Kenyan CSOs have long been battling increasingly stringent rules and regulations. Last December, the government deregistered over 510 local and international NGOs, among them Médecins Sans Frontières, after they failed to submit financial reports. An additional 15 were deregistered because they were suspected of financing terrorism activities. A few months before, Parliament voted against 13 amendments to the Public Benefit Organization Act of 2013, which were thought to violate constitutional protections of freedom of association; the amendments notably sought to restrict the access of CSOs to foreign funding. The crackdown on NGOs was thought to be tied to the indictment of President Uhuru Kenyatta by the International Criminal Court for his involvement in the 2007-2008 postelection violence, a case the court has since dropped. Last January, Kenya’s high court struck down parts of a controversial security bill that were deemed to limit free speech and independence of the media. One of the suspended laws also capped the number of refugees and asylum seekers permitted in the country at 150,000. Check out more insights and analysis for global development leaders like you, and sign up as an Executive Member to receive the information you need for your organization to thrive.