From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Mar 21 2010 - 07:31:33 EST
Trafficking of desperate Ethiopians a lucrative trade in Kenya
March 21th, 2010
By Ali Abdi | The Standard
A truck emerged from the tracks in bushes and then dropped about 30
passengers at Kambi Garba near Isiolo town. Immediately after they
disembarked, two taxis pulled up and immediately some of the passengers
entered before the cars zoomed towards Isiolo Town.
The taxis later returned to pick the rest of the passengers. They took them
to a lodging in town. At the lodging they met members of a cartel promising
to arrange their travel to South Africa.
On the same day, more than 60 people were dropped by a truck and two new
Land cruisers at Archers Post, Samburu East District.
Lucrative trade
Unfortunately, 14 of them were arrested while the rest managed to travel to
Isiolo.
This is part of a lucrative human trafficking and smuggling business that
has taken root along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. It involves desperate
Ethiopians out to join their relatives who are refugees in Western Europe
and North America or those looking for greener pastures in South Africa and
Namibia.
In the first case, the truck driver, who managed to pass through more than
10 police barriers in Moyale, Marsabit and Samburu drops his human cargo at
Kambi Garba, about 5km from the Isiolo town centre, to avoid the police
barrier that is less than 3km ahead.
They avoid the police in Isiolo mainly for three reasons; because there is a
feeling police here are more vigilant, their bribery charges are higher or
the fear that the illegal activity has been leaked to the authorities.
In the second incident, the truck driver who brought his passengers from
various illegal entries along the border avoids the Isiolo-Moyale highway at
Turbi in North Horr and instead use cattle tracks to Merti in Isiolo
District.
Many of those trafficked are women and children, who believe the cartel
means well for them.
But things do not often work out.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says many find themselves
as slaves when they reach their destinations.
Kenya has been identified as a source, destination and a transit point for
trafficked persons, a new form of modern slavery.
While admitting the existence of the trafficking cartels, Eastern Provincial
Police Officer Marcus Ochola told CCI that they are so sophisticated that
they use routes that are only known to locals.
Little attention
"The cartels use their knowledge of local language and terrain to bring in
the Ethiopians. Every day they use a new route. We are shocked that the
Ethiopians are now using Merti road to avoid the police barriers along the
Isiolo-Moyale highway,'' noted Ochola.
The police chief noted that while the Government was focusing on the
Somalia-Kenya border, that of Kenya-Ethiopia had been given little attention
thereby increasing the number of aliens getting into Kenya through the
unmanned porous border.
Ochola said the police and immigration officers were on high alert, but
admitted that they lack enough personnel and resources like vehicles to
properly cover the vast, porous and remote borderline.
He said the cartel had outsmarted his officers due to their knowledge of
local terrain and language adding that the brokers use different routes that
are not designated as
roads.
"They (cartel) are now using the Merti road taking advantage of the unusual
heavy traffic resulting from the oil exploration in the division. We are now
looking at all the possible routes,'' said the PPO.
CCI learnt that the vehicles ferrying the immigrants use the
Merti-Lososia-Archers Post route and drop the Ethiopians at night at the
junction of the Isiolo-Moyale highway and Archers Post-Merti road. Taxi
drivers later pick them in groups and take them to hotels in Isiolo town.
They use illegal entries in Moyale, Wajir, North Horr and Turkana to enter
Kenya before travelling to Nairobi and thereafter to their preferred
destinations abroad.
On the Kenyan side, a trafficking cartel operates from Moyale but has
branches in Marsabit and Isiolo to assist the Ethiopians to get to their
destinations through Kenya.
Our month-long investigation revealed that an average of 100 Ethiopians get
to Isiolo daily. An average of 30 of them are arrested by police and charged
with being in Kenya illegally while the rest find their way to Nairobi.
Our findings, also confirmed by both the police and the Immigration
Department in Moyale, show that most of the aliens enter through illegal
border entries in Moyale's Central and Sololo divisions, Forolle in North
Horr and at entries bordering Moyale and Wajir districts through the
assistance of the cartels.
The Ethiopians also use illegal entry points at the Kenya-Ethiopia and
Kenya-Sudan-Ethiopia border at Lokichoggio (Turkana) and Illeret (North
Horr).
>From Lokichoggio, they board matatus to Nairobi while from Illeret, they use
the Loyangalani-Baragoi-Maralal-Nyahururu route to get to Nairobi.
Sources said agents in Ethiopia connect those who can afford the trip with
their counterparts in Kenya.
Those involved in the illegal trade speak Borana, Amharic and other Oromo
languages while most of the victims hail from centres in southern Ethiopia.
To win their trust, the cartels assure the strangers of safely reaching
Nairobi.
A source intimated that each person pays the agents an average of Sh50,000
for the journey between Moyale and Isiolo.
According to a member of the cartel operating in Isiolo who has since fallen
out with his colleagues, Sh25,000 is meant for transport, Sh10,000 for the
agents and Sh15,000 is to be used to bribe the police and the provincial
administration officers along the route.
The trip is in two phases. The first phase is between Moyale and Isiolo and
it is considered the most dangerous due to the high possibility of arrest by
immigration
officials and police. The other phase is between Isiolo and Nairobi and is
less risky.
After paying the required amount, the cartels load the Ethiopians on trucks
bound for Nairobi.
But due to difficulties experienced at police barriers, the smugglers have
come up with special vehicles to ferry the aliens up to Isiolo or Archers
Post in Samburu East District.
Moyale border point deputy immigration officer Guyo Duba confirmed the work
of the human traffickers saying they use illegal entries along the porous
border to bring in the Ethiopians.
Duba said Ethiopians, mostly traders with valid travel documents, pass
through the legal border point in Moyale town while the aliens with no
papers seek the help of smugglers.
No resources
"Moyale border point was among the best manned last year. Only Ethiopians
with valid passport pass through here but out there, we have problem with
cartels aiding aliens to use illegal entries to get into Kenya,'' said the
officer.
Many victims of human trafficking believe those transporting them mean well
for them. 'I wanted to travel to Nairobi and thereafter see the possibility
of travelling to America to join my big brother. I was connected to the
Kenyan traffickers in Moyale by a friend in Ethiopia,'' said a convicted
Ethiopian alien who only gave his name as Haile. He said he hails from Dirre
in southern Ethiopia.
He is now serving a three-month sentence at Isiolo GK Prison and faces
repatriation afterwards.
Other victims interviewed said they had given all their money to the
brokers. They lamented the agents had failed to protect them from the police
adding that they were asked to bribe the police if they wanted to proceed
with their journey.
"I gave out Sh50,000 to the agent in Moyale. I was told part of the money
was to be given to the police but on arrival here (Isiolo) I was arrested
along with my brothers. My agents were nowhere to protect us,'' lamented
Haile speaking in Amharic.
Duba lamented that his department lacks resources like vehicles to monitor
the border. He said they often rely on police who sometimes work with the
cartels to frustrate their efforts.
He, however, noted that most of the arrests are done on the strength of
information forwarded to the police by immigration officers. He said they
are working with the police to end the illegal trade.
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