1) About 2.3 percent of Kenya's total population are ethnic Somalis who are Kenyan nationals, predominantly living in the North-Eastern Province (formerly referred to as the Northern Frontier District). [George Thomas Kurian, Encyclopedia of the Third World, Vol. 2 (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1987), p. 1036.] There is no information available to IRBDC regarding persons of Somali citizenship working legally in Kenya.

According to several sources, including The Globe and Mail and the British Broadcasting Corporation, in Mid-March 1987 President Moi of Kenya ordered a crackdown on all aliens living illegally in Kenya, accusing them of perpetrating acts of violence in his country. These sources indicate that many Somali nationals were among the hundreds of illegal aliens arrested and transported across the border, following the President's directives. ["Illegal Aliens Arrested in Kenya", The Globe and Mail, 20 March 1987, p. A10; "Kenyan Authorities Round-up Illegal Aliens and Western Tourists", BBC Monitoring Service, Summary of World Events, 23 March 1987.]

Recently, the Kenyan government has launched a nationwide anti-poaching campaign which has reportedly focused on Somali nationals living illegally in Kenya, according to Africa Confidential. In late December 1988, the Kenyan government deported 40 Somali nationals accused of poaching and smuggling, and called on Kenyan Somalis of the North-Eastern Province to "expose aliens who had infiltrated the country using false identities". ["Kenya: Crackdown on Somalis", Africa Confidential, 6 January 1989, pp. 6-7.]

2) According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Kenya's total refugee population by end-1988 was around 12 500, most of them living in large cities such as Nairobi or Mombasa. The refugee population includes Ugandans, Ethiopians, Rwandans and some 1 300 from various nationalities. [UNHCR, Fact Sheet: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Geneva, April 1989, p. 1.] It is not known to IRBDC how many of the refugees classified as "from various nationalities" are Somalis or how they are treated.

There were reports that more than 5 000 Somalis had crossed into Kenya after rebels of the Somali Patriotic Movement had clashed with Somali government troops in mid-August 1989. According to The Guardian, the Kenyan government "has maintained that it requires no assistance in caring for the refugees..., [and] making a distinction between refugees and displaced persons, clearly hopes that the Somalis who have crossed into Kenya will return voluntarily as soon as the fighting in the south subsides". [Peter Biles, "Somalis Seek Escape from Rebel War in Kenya", The Guardian, 25 August 1989.] In a recent article in The Independent, Richard Dowden notes that in early October 1989 several Somalis fleeing the war in Somalia were forcibly returned home by Kenyan border guards, and observes that "the UNHCR is unable to press the Kenyan government into accepting and caring for refugees from Somalia". [Richard Dowden, The Independent, 10 October 1989.]