25 Aug 2010

SOMALIA / SAUDI ARABIA DEPORTATION

Somali citizens are among thousands recently deported from Saudi Arabia. Many have left because of the ongoing fighting between government troops and Islamist insurgents. UNHCR

Posted at: August 25, 2010 12:48 pm

Duration: 02:00

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: SOMALIA / SAUDI ARABIA DEPORTATION
TRT: 2:00
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SOMALI / NATS

DATELINE: 8 AUGUST 2010, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

SHOTLIST:

1. Various shots, Asho Ahmed carrying water
2. Med shot, Asho Ahmed feeding a child 
3. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Asho Ahmed, deported Somali:
"I was captured on my way to do laundry for the people I was working for and sent to a deportation centre. My children were brought to me.  I was there for 15 days and then I was deported to Somalia eight months ago."
4. Various shots, Asho in hut feeding her children
5. Wide shot, Fartun in front of hut
6. Pan Left, Fartun and Asho in hut with children
7. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Fartun Ali Mohamed, deported Somali:
"I suffered a lot during my deportation. I was pregnant and had a child in hand. My husband got sick and died. Now we are in the bush in a refugee camp, we suffered a lot."
8. Various shots, Asho giving bottle to baby
SOUNDBITE (Somali) Asho Ahmed:
 "If there is peace I would like to stay in Somalia. There is nothing I like more than my country."
9. Wide shot, Asho and Fartun and children walking out the hut

STORYLINE: 
 
Asha Ahmed Abukar left Mogadishu six years ago to escape the anarchy and violence that has plagued Somalia for years.

She lived, married and had her four children in Saudi Arabia, but recently she was sent back by the authorities.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Asho Ahmed, deported Somali:
"I was captured on my way to do laundry for the people I was working for and sent to a deportation centre. My children were brought to me.  I was there for 15 days and then I was deported to Somalia eight months ago."

Asha ended up here – in this derelict world of makeshift cloth huts – near Mogadishu along with another 150 deportees.

Fartun Ali Mohamed's story is similar. She was sent back to Somalia after nine months.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Fartun Ali Mohamed, deported Somali:
"I suffered a lot during my deportation. I was pregnant and had a child in hand. My husband got sick and died. Now we are in the bush in a refugee camp, we suffered a lot."

Asho is here alone too. Her husband stayed in Saudi Arabia to work. But now he is in hiding because he has no legal papers. 
  
SOUNDBITE (Somali) Asho Ahmed, deported Somali:
 "If there is peace I would like to stay in Somalia. There is nothing I like more than my country."

The ongoing conflict between the transitional government and the Al-Shabaab militants has displaced over a million Somalis and pushed hundreds of thousands to neighbouring countries seeking asylum. 
UNHCR said as many as 4,000 Somalis had been deported from Saudi Arabia over the previous year.

Filed under 13.01.00 - PROTECTION OF AND ASSISTANCE TO REFUGEES AND DISPLACED PERSONS SAUDI ARABIA SOMALIA UNHCR - Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.