1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Kenya

Somali Bantus off to US

The first group of Somali Bantus who have been living in a Kenyan refugee camp for the past decade, are due to start their final journey to the US this week where they will be resettled, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. In a statement, UNHCR said this was the beginning of one of the biggest resettlement operations to take place from Africa, in which some 11,800 Somali Bantus will be resettled in the US. The first batch, consisting of 74 Somalis, were due to leave Kenya on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Another 150 are expected to travel before mid-June, the statement said. The resettlement programme has been jointly conducted by UNHCR and the International Organisation of Migration (IOM). The trip follows weeks of cultural orientation given by the IOM, which is in charge of relocation. "The programme was designed to teach them how to go through airport security and how to cope with cold weather when they get to their new homes, among other topics," the statement said. The Somali Bantus - a minority group whose physical, cultural and linguistic characteristics distinguish them from the Cushitic majority in Somalia - were considered for resettlement in the US, because they faced difficult circumstances in their country where they were treated as second class citizens. In the early 1990s, during civil war in Somalia, more than 10,000 fled to refugee camps in Kenya, where discrimination against them by major Somali clans continued.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Get the day’s top headlines in your inbox every morning

Starting at just $5 a month, you can become a member of The New Humanitarian and receive our premium newsletter, DAWNS Digest.

DAWNS Digest has been the trusted essential morning read for global aid and foreign policy professionals for more than 10 years.

Government, media, global governance organisations, NGOs, academics, and more subscribe to DAWNS to receive the day’s top global headlines of news and analysis in their inboxes every weekday morning.

It’s the perfect way to start your day.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian today and you’ll automatically be subscribed to DAWNS Digest – free of charge.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join