Somali UAE community

[Sumubaridi]

Its the same in Saudi too. My friend's wife's father came to Saudi in 1960. He became Imaam and was asked to get citizenship. He refused and now his kids go to Sudan to study because ajaanib are not allowed to study public university. His wife was born in Saudi Arabia in 1967 but they both have Somali Passport.

[Djiboutian]

The majority immigrated as refugees to Europe, Australia, Canada and the US.
A minority went back to Somaliland permanently.
90% of the population was from Somaliland, in the UAE there where 100,000 somalis and we were number 3 in the size of ethnic groups after South Asians and Non-gulf arabs.
by the mid 2000's there were 20,000 and most of them newly arrived from the south and living in dubai.

So a total change of population.

The early group worked for the government, all spoke fluent arabic , in municipalities, Army, Police and state corporations.
With growing population of educated Locals they started replacing Somalis and every other arab population slowly,
with job losses and somali civil war , most took the smart choice and fled, before they got fired.

Source!

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/gene ... in-the-uae
for the ~20,000 figure in 2000's
its closer to 50,000 today because they eased visa restrictions on somalis.

for the 100,000 figure pre 1990.
I am basing it on the number of male contributers to SNM funds.
it was over 60,000 individual males in UAE, and since half of them have family,
the 100,000 figure it conservative,

There was a higher number in Saudia,
Qatar also had a northerner majority but they were in the 10,000~ range.
Omans somali population was as old as the UAE one but the majority were majerteen.
Yemen had over 50,000 mostly northerners, including warsengeli and majerteen
and some were 3rd or 4tth generation,
most have immigrated as well, replaced by new refugees.
I have several relatives that are older than my father and were born in Aden,
they had access to British citizenship because of their birth certificates.
I even have some that recieved UAE citizenships.

"Somali businessmen consider UAE as a main base for exporting items to their country. Importing livestock and leather from Mogadishu to UAE has been practised even before the oil boom. " Sherif Ahmed


Somalis prefer to live and run their business in the emirates and Dubai is considered the gateway. The number of Somalis living in the UAE ranges between 20,000 and 25,000 while 60 per cent of them are running their own businesses including import and export between Dubai and Mogadishu, besides gold, clothes, textiles and several trade commodities. Mohammed Yarow Abu Bakar Mayow, Consul-General of Somalia

More than 60 per cent Somalis are Sunni Muslims. Most of the social norms in Somalia are derived from Islamic traditions. For example, a handshake is the common and polite greeting, but men shake hands only with men, and women with women.

Is this what you call reliable Source!!

60% of 20,000 - 25,000 = 12,000 - 15,000 Somali businessmen/businesswomen . If you count Somali businessmen/businesswomen in the world, including hucksters, they will not come anywhere close to that number. All Somalis in Gold Souk, HQ of Somali in Dubai, are not more than 1,000.

Back in 70s or 80s 100% of Somali speaking people were from Somaliland. Let us say their number was, as your stated 100,000. Taking into account that the average number of the family is 10 ( 8 siblings and 2 parents ). That means the number of Somali speaking family increased 5 fold from 2 spouses to 10 household. Therefore, if 75% of them left UAE for whatever reason still they will be as big as back in 70s or early 80s.

People like to exaggerate things. The population of Somali speaking people wasn't 100,000 in early 80s. Definitelly it was one of the biggest community in UAE.

P.S. Neither Mr. Sharif Ahmed Ba Alawi nor Mr. Yarow Mayow know anything outside Dubai. More than 90% of the population live in Abu Dhabi state.

[Djiboutian]

There was a chance to get citizenship before 1971.
My uncle was there from the mid 60s was unofficial leader of Somali community and was on first name basis with sheikh Zayed raximahullah.
Back then abudhabi was a village and anyone could see the shield at his majlis.
Most Somalis were proud of their country and thought they were temporary migrants.
Some smart ones asked for citizenship and got it.
I have cousins with uae citizenship.
I

My Allah bless your uncle, he was a good man.

So my friends , if the somalis had stayed in the UAE , wouldn't have they become citizens ? Weren't they confident in the ability of the imaraati badaw to transform the desert in a paradise ? Had they stayed and fight for their rights , they would have been well better off than living in Canada , the UK or Australia don't you think ? Anyway gather your papers before the old ones pass away and mount a PR campaign like the indians have done in Uganda against Idi Amin

I have some older family members born in Aden , that's why we will not cede it to the houthis

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

I couldn't understand the mentality of the Somalilanders who live in Gulf States. Qaar 10,000$ ayay siisanayaan passport fake ah ee naftooda ayay khatar galinayan aqalka madaxtooyada u toban talaabo u jira waligood tagi mayaan siday passport u apply gariyaan. Fortunately, 80% of those in Saudi have the citizenship and are holding top positions.

[Jaidi]

There was a chance to get citizenship before 1971.
My uncle was there from the mid 60s was unofficial leader of Somali community and was on first name basis with sheikh Zayed raximahullah.
Back then abudhabi was a village and anyone could see the shield at his majlis.
Most Somalis were proud of their country and thought they were temporary migrants.
Some smart ones asked for citizenship and got it.
I have cousins with uae citizenship.
I

Even in the 70's it was possible to get citizenship. People used to bribe poor original local families in the desert to vouch that they are part of their tribe. A smaller amount got it in the 90's through connections with influential families, but the practice of naturalizing has almost come to a halt over this past decade. BTW there used to be a rumour among the old Somalis in the UAE that Siyad Barre( who Zayed was friends with) asked him not to naturalize any Somalis because he was losing his brightest people. Probably urban legend but a well known story.

@Djboutian back in the day the majority used to live in Abu Dhabi but not anymore. Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman have a bigger population of Somali residents now.

[Djiboutian]

There was a chance to get citizenship before 1971.
My uncle was there from the mid 60s was unofficial leader of Somali community and was on first name basis with sheikh Zayed raximahullah.
Back then abudhabi was a village and anyone could see the shield at his majlis.
Most Somalis were proud of their country and thought they were temporary migrants.
Some smart ones asked for citizenship and got it.
I have cousins with uae citizenship.
I

Even in the 70's it was possible to get citizenship. People used to bribe poor original local families in the desert to vouch that they are part of their tribe. A smaller amount got it in the 90's through connections with influential families, but the practice of naturalizing has almost come to a halt over this past decade. BTW there used to be a rumour among the old Somalis in the UAE that Siyad Barre( who Zayed was friends with) asked him not to naturalize any Somalis because he was losing his brightest people. Probably urban legend but a well known story.

@Djboutian back in the day the majority used to live in Abu Dhabi but not anymore. Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman have a bigger population of Somali residents now.

You don't need to bribe anyone to be naturalized in UAE or any other Gulf states. Few families who I know get naturalized the last decade but it an easy nowadays.

As for what you called " rumor ", it was not rumor but truth. Siad Barre tried his best not for Somalilanders who were to only ones living there by that time to get naturalized. And it has nothing to do with losing smartest people. He was the one who forced them to leave their country at the first place. And his main purpose of that action was to prevent Somalilanders from getting Foreign passports. I can tell you the names of all the people who were involved. The funny thing is Gurey25's uncle was the person who introduced him to Sheikh Zayed. And he used to accompany Sheikh Zayed along with another Somalilander man, who have been deported from UAE in mid 80s because of Somali Embassy slander, every time he visited Mogadishu.

Most of Somalis you saw in Gold Souk are visitors. Apart from them few hundreds live in Madinat Bader in Dubai. Another few hundreds in Nabaca, Sharjah and probably 750-900 in Karama, Ajman. Even if you added up those who live in Ras Al Khaimah they won't be more than one quarter of Somali speaking people who live in Musafah, suburb of Abu Dhabi. Let alone Abu Dhabi city and its other suburbs.

I know UAE very good and I visit it more than any other country for decades.

[SahanGalbeed]

Let's look at it on the bright side , now the whole world knows who are the real somalis , not just the arabs

[Djiboutian]

Let's look at it on the bright side , now the whole world knows who are the real somalis , not just the arabs

What do you mean?

[SahanGalbeed]

Let's look at it on the bright side , now the whole world knows who are the real somalis , not just the arabs

What do you mean?

De waxba ku mu helin baan u jeeda

[InoCabdi]

There was a chance to get citizenship before 1971.
My uncle was there from the mid 60s was unofficial leader of Somali community and was on first name basis with sheikh Zayed raximahullah.
Back then abudhabi was a village and anyone could see the shield at his majlis.
Most Somalis were proud of their country and thought they were temporary migrants.
Some smart ones asked for citizenship and got it.
I have cousins with uae citizenship.
I

My Allah bless your uncle, he was a good man.

So my friends , if the somalis had stayed in the UAE , wouldn't have they become citizens ? Weren't they confident in the ability of the imaraati badaw to transform the desert in a paradise ? Had they stayed and fight for their rights , they would have been well better off than living in Canada , the UK or Australia don't you think ? Anyway gather your papers before the old ones pass away and mount a PR campaign like the indians have done in Uganda against Idi Amin

I have some older family members born in Aden , that's why we will not cede it to the houthis

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

I couldn't understand the mentality of the Somalilanders who live in Gulf States. Qaar 10,000$ ayay siisanayaan passport fake ah ee naftooda ayay khatar galinayan aqalka madaxtooyada u toban talaabo u jira waligood tagi mayaan siday passport u apply gariyaan. Fortunately, 80% of those in Saudi have the citizenship and are holding top positions.

Lolno sxb. Plenty of Somalis here got the somali passport.
Its not easy getting a khaliji citizenship.

[Djiboutian]

Lolno sxb. Plenty of Somalis here got the somali passport.
Its not easy getting a khaliji citizenship.

Every country has its own law. Some are more restrict than others.

Majority of those who were in Saudi pre 1990 have been naturalized. Some rejected and preferred to keep Somali Passport. It is almost impossible to be naturalized anywhere in Gulf States nowadays apart from Bahrain and in some cases Qatar.

The best community is the one in Saudi.

[Tanker]

was in Dubai recently whores in The Streets oplenly sellingg bodies UAE has changed to the worse not family friendly anymore

[original dervish]

Seems as though nobody wants to be Somali these days.
PS can you blame em?

[FAH1223]

was in Dubai recently whores in The Streets oplenly sellingg bodies UAE has changed to the worse not family friendly anymore

ducktales

[Jaidi]

There was a chance to get citizenship before 1971.
My uncle was there from the mid 60s was unofficial leader of Somali community and was on first name basis with sheikh Zayed raximahullah.
Back then abudhabi was a village and anyone could see the shield at his majlis.
Most Somalis were proud of their country and thought they were temporary migrants.
Some smart ones asked for citizenship and got it.
I have cousins with uae citizenship.
I

Even in the 70's it was possible to get citizenship. People used to bribe poor original local families in the desert to vouch that they are part of their tribe. A smaller amount got it in the 90's through connections with influential families, but the practice of naturalizing has almost come to a halt over this past decade. BTW there used to be a rumour among the old Somalis in the UAE that Siyad Barre( who Zayed was friends with) asked him not to naturalize any Somalis because he was losing his brightest people. Probably urban legend but a well known story.

@Djboutian back in the day the majority used to live in Abu Dhabi but not anymore. Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman have a bigger population of Somali residents now.

You don't need to bribe anyone to be naturalized in UAE or any other Gulf states. Few families who I know get naturalized the last decade but it an easy nowadays.

As for what you called " rumor ", it was not rumor but truth. Siad Barre tried his best not for Somalilanders who were to only ones living there by that time to get naturalized. And it has nothing to do with losing smartest people. He was the one who forced them to leave their country at the first place. And his main purpose of that action was to prevent Somalilanders from getting Foreign passports. I can tell you the names of all the people who were involved. The funny thing is Gurey25's uncle was the person who introduced him to Sheikh Zayed. And he used to accompany Sheikh Zayed along with another Somalilander man, who have been deported from UAE in mid 80s because of Somali Embassy slander, every time he visited Mogadishu.

Most of Somalis you saw in Gold Souk are visitors. Apart from them few hundreds live in Madinat Bader in Dubai. Another few hundreds in Nabaca, Sharjah and probably 750-900 in Karama, Ajman. Even if you added up those who live in Ras Al Khaimah they won't be more than one quarter of Somali speaking people who live in Musafah, suburb of Abu Dhabi. Let alone Abu Dhabi city and its other suburbs.

I know UAE very good and I visit it more than any other country for decades.

Im not sure if you know what being naturalized means. It means granting citizenship to a foreigner and its almost impossible to get now. Plenty of people, of all sorts of nationality, got UAE citizenship in 70s and early 80s through getting bedouin families to include them within their tribe. Seems like you are just disagreeing for the sake of it.

On the Barre story, I'm hardly emotionally invested in arguing whether its true or false. I just related an anecdote that most people who lived in the UAE have heard back then.

Was born and raised in the country so no need to tout your visitor credentials for your expertise. The Somali population in AD has undoubtedly shrunk compared to its old numbers. Even Mussafah rents are unsustainable for average working Somali family and they make up of the area has changed a lot compared to what it used to be. Same with Baniyas. Theres no real stats on this anyway so you cant argue confidently about these numbers in any specific direction.

[Jaidi]

was in Dubai recently whores in The Streets oplenly sellingg bodies UAE has changed to the worse not family friendly anymore

ducktales

Its true, prostitutes are everywhere in Dubai. Even in Abu Dhabi in many hotels.