Document #1231657
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
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.
References
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)
Additional Sources Consulted
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.