Specific information regarding whether there was an office or agency in Mogadishu issuing valid Somali passports in 1992 could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, a 4 January 1994 report from The Independent stated that in the absence of a legitimate passport issuing authority, "opportunists" using blank passport books and stamps "plundered from the immigration office" were selling Somali passports in the Bakahara market in Mogadishu. The passports, which could be backdated to 1990, were sold for 70,000 shillings (approximately £13). [President Siad Barre's government fell in January 1991].

Information was provided to the Research Directorate by the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi via the Refugee Branch, Asylum Division of Citizenship and Immigration Canada in Ottawa (8 June 1998) confirming that Somali passports remain available for purchase in Nairobi, notwithstanding the fact that the Somali embassy in Nairobi closed on 25 January 1995 and there has been no valid Somali passport issuing authority in Nairobi since that date. For further information regarding the availability of fraudulent Somali passports please consult SOM25994.E of 9 January 1997, SOM18225.E of 17 August 1994 and SOM18127.E of 8 August 1994.Information on the above-mentioned topic could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Canadian High Commission, Nairobi, 8 June 1998. Email sent through the Refugee Branch, Asylum Division, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ottawa.

The Independent [London]. 4 January 1994. Michael Phillips. "Passport to a Free Market in Somalia." (NEXIS)

The Europa World Yearbook.1991, 1992.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1991, 1992.

Political Handbook of the World 1992. 1992.

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Internet, REFWORLD, WNC.