Illegal immigration in Puntland causes instability

[Coeus]

More than 3000 illegal immigrants of various nationalities are currently stranded in Bosaso, a port town in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, with the vain hope of finding boats to take them to Europe and the Middle East.
Among the immigrants are 150 Sri Lankans, 90 Ethiopians, 60 Eritreans and 30 Tanzanians, who lack food or shelter in Bosaso, in the north-eastern part of Somalia, 1200 km from Mogadishu, the Capital of Somalia.
The town's soaring heat, which has reached above 50 degrees Celsius is among the hardships the immigrants are faced with.
According to informed sources in Bosaso, the Sri lankas immigrants reached the port town from the United Arab Emirates under unclear arrangements made by several Somali and Arabs Human Traffickers who are based in U.
A.
E.
and in Bosaso.
The Ethiopians and Eritreans crossed through the porous eastern Somali border to Bosaso, while the Tanzanians firstly entered Somalia through the Indian Ocean and then travelled by road to Bosaso.
Apparently, the Sri Lankan immigrants travelled to Bosaso with an aim of travelling by boats to Libya, from where different human traffickers were expected to receive them and hire boats from local fishermen in the Mediterranean Sea to ferry them to Europe, especially Italy.
Normally, the traffickers charge the Sri Lankan immigrants between $4,000 and $6,000 to meet the expenses of the illegal trip.
The Tanzanians, Ethiopians and Eritrea's immigrants usually prefer to be smuggled to the Middle East countries notably Yemen since they can hardly afford the exorbitant fee charged by traffickers for trips to Europe.
The trip to the Middle East normally costs between $500 and $800.
However since arriving at Bosaso town close to a year ago, the immigrants have lost hope of leaving for the destination they were promised.
Very few of those who left managed to get to their destination, the rest either lost their lives when their makeshift boats sunk in the sea, or when unscrupulous boat riders forced them to jump into the water.
Survivors alleged that these riders usually force the illegal immigrants to swim to the shore whenever their boats arrive close to the Middle East borders for fear of punitive measures by coast guards in Middle Eastern states.
According to the immigrants, the traffickers promised them all when they arrived in Bosaso, it would take less than two months to finalise their illegal travel arrangements but the promise was never fulfilled.
"After the two months was over they kept telling us just wait a little bit things will be alright, it is almost a year now, our money is finished and we don't know what to do," lamented Mrs.
Zainabu Omari from Moshi, Tanzania.
Among the immigrants are families accompanied by their children.
An official from Puntland authority, Abdishakur Mirre Adan, revealed that Puntland police officers had arrested a number of traffickers in the past week and action would be taken against them.
"Those people who brought them from UAE pretended they (immigrants) are commercial fishermen who are coming to carry fishing activities, but our investigation revealed the Sri Lankans are to be smuggled to Europe," said Adan.
In May last year, authorities in Puntland detained 133 Sri Lankan immigrants for using its territory as transit point to Europe.
These were later released and ordered to leave the region.
Hundreds of illegal immigrants have lost their lives on seas over the past few years.