EGYPT: Abdullah Kahiya, "Cairo is better than Mogadishu, but life is still hard"

Photo: Emmanuel Dunseath/IRIN

Abdullah Kahiya, 31, sold his home in Somalia to buy a plane ticket to Egypt in 2003 because of the fighting in Mogadishu. He says life is better but hard as a refugee in Cairo

CAIRO, 25 October 2009 (IRIN) - Officially, there were 6,108 Somali refugees registered with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cairo in September, the third largest group after the Sudanese and Iraqis.

UNHCR said most Somalis arriving in Egypt got prima facie refugee status, meaning they did not need to undergo comprehensive refugee status determination interviews.

In the third of a series of interviews with refugees living in Cairo, IRIN spoke to Abdullah Bare Kahiya, 31, about why he left home, and the prospects he has in this host country.

“I left Mogadishu on 16 April 2003. The fighting there was getting too much and I feared for my safety. So I sold my house so that I could buy a ticket to come to Egypt by plane.

“I heard that many people died going to Yemen by boat so I didn’t want to risk my life like that. Others go by foot or car into neighbouring countries. I thought there would be more opportunities in Egypt so I went there alone.

“I was wrong. Cairo is better than Mogadishu, but life is still hard. It’s very difficult to find jobs here as we are not allowed to work, officially. No one I know is working.

“I am registered with UNHCR and get some support from them and they pay for the education of those of us with children.

“I live in the Giza area where some other Somalis live but generally speaking our community is scattered around this big city. We have a large community here, mostly from Mogadishu, but I’m sure being in a refugee camp would be better because we would all be in one place.

“But at least most of us speak Arabic, which helps us to get along with the Egyptian people. We have good relations with them and find the country to be a peaceful place, unlike my country. It is very difficult to contact people in Mogadishu because there is no infrastructure and they keep moving. I hope to God that change will happen in Somalia, so that I might return home one day.”

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