European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 24, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Its Gyl kenyans build a House at the Katimy refugee Camp near Mombasa. About 3,500 somalian refugees live at Katimy. Some of Somalia s 400,000 refugees find Safe but fragile Haven in Kenya Back to Power and Start the killing again. They want to stay in Kenya he  Steve scholar staff writer he 3,500 refugees at the Katimy refugee Camp in Kenya Are the somali equivalent to the haitian boat people. These refugees left Somalia seven months ago by boat and Dinghy in search of food dignity and the right to decide their future. The Camp provides food and a semblance of dignity but the right to decide their future seems to have been snatched from their grasp. Much like the Clinton administration in its struggle with the haitian question the kenyan government is coming under intense pressure from its citizens to forcefully repatriate these and almost 400,000 other somalian refugees in Camps that stretch from the kenyan somali Border in the North to Mombasa in the South. The kenyan government has asked the . High commission for refugees to repatriate the somalis. Thus far the commission s policy against forced repatriation has caused friction with Kenya s government headed by president Daniel t. Mot. Camp clan elder Veilani Haji she Kuna has heard All the reasons for repatriation and is worried. We re Happy Here. We want to stay because we Don t want to live in fear he said. By All accounts this Camp is different from Many others. It is Small neater cleaner and better administered. Military style tents Dot the landscape As wednesday february 24, 1993 far As the Eye can see. The tents Are Well kept with some residents building mud Walls. Construction is ongoing in the Camp with a new schoolhouse and inside toilets but two examples of Progress being made. Assistant Camp manager Andrew Nthiwa a kenyan red Cross employee said no one in his Camp wants to leave. They Are afraid the government of Siad Barre the former dictator will comes a Gary Miller the children of the Camp seem healthy and Well fed. The stars and stripes the kenyan red Cross finances the Camp s operating costs. Another reason the kenyan government seeks to Force the somalis to leave is that it believes the refugees pose a Security risk to Kenya. Nine kenyan Security forces have been killed by somalis in the refugee Camps according to kenyan officials. Also 38 somalis have died in and around the Camps. But Nthiwa says there have been no such incidents at the Katimy Camp. It s really just the opposite. The Camp provides employment to kenyans. They supervise construction projects and lend expertise in Camp management businesses have set up outside the Camp. We be had no problems Here he said. The Camp which has been operating seven months is divided into five zones with each having something equivalent to a mayor running that sector. Problems that can t be solved at that level Are elevated to Camp elder she Kuna who has been there six months. She Kuna says there Aren t Man reasons for him to return to Somalia. I be lost 12 members of my family including a daughter. Here there is stability. What s left of my family is  despite that relative safety she Kuna Waits to learn what will happen to him and his clan. While somali children laugh and play there decisions about their future will be made by kenyan president Moi. She Kuna s mood though remains upbeat. It makes no sense to worry. Well take it a Day at a  Short subject camels help somalis Over the humps by 40hn-Thor Dahlburg los Angela times Call them haughty individualistic Clannish Nigger Crafty maybe even selfish and merciless somalis say. But first understand Why. In a word the reason is camels. Livestock is Somalia and Somalia is livestock Mohamoud Abdullahi chairman of the National livestock commission explained waxing lyrical about his livelihood and favorite topic. The Camel is our Dollar part of our heritage our  by practically invading an isolated african country with giant quantities of humanitarian Aid and military muscle the United states and other Western countries have brought themselves face to face with a social system evolved by pastoral nomads Over the centuries to endure a supremely hostile environment. What is important Here is survival anything that does t have to do with survival has no place in Somalia said Abdullahi a veterinarian by Trade. It s kill or be killed. Only the toughest Trees can live Here and it s like that with people too. Only the extremely fit survive. The old or sick get ten  niceness in american terms is just not a priority in Somalia As some foreigners have found. Somalis bred after centuries of fighting each other for scarce grazing land and water for themselves and their herds Don t say excuse me or please to each other. Those words Are considered pointless they explain. To the outsider this land soon comes to seem like a giant Western set inhabited by Tough As nails Clint Eastwood types. Pius of course the Sand coloured Graceful camels that Amble across this Barren land As herders guide them to Market. At 1,800 pounds and More Somalia s camels Are the biggest in Africa their owners proudly boast they furnish the Tough but tasty meat eaten with Spaghetti the milk sold by Roadside entrepreneurs in scavenged plastic bottles the hides used to build tents the dung used to build the Walls of huts. We americans May like to think of ourselves As individualists but when we see a stranger Riding by i think our instinct b to invite them in for a drink said one . Resident of Mogadishu. Not the somalis. In the desert when two of them met the feeling was that Only one should walk away. It s a Zero sum game out there so although Somalia is that rare african country with a single culture religion islam language and ethnic background much of the population Felt no moral compulsion to help fellow countrymen. The card Man for us is the equivalent of two other men Strong intelligent resistant Abdla isaid. With toss t an 1 percent of Africa s total human population Somalia has 43 percent of the continent s camels. Four years ago there were 6-3 million camels in Somalia More camels than people. For somalis though a Camel is hardly Mere livestock. Somalis Admire toughness resilience hardiness in the environment " Abdullahi said. And Are these not the very characteristics possessed by the Camel of which it says in the holy Koran look what i have created for you the Camel " 17