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'Take us back to Somalia'
27/05/2008 20:11 - (SA)
Verashni Pillay
Cape Town - A new camp for displaced foreigners was set up exclusively for Somalis at Soetwater Disaster Management Centre, after tension on Monday over scarce supplies, camp workers said.
"About 2000 Somalis arrived last night, and we've set up a separate camp for them," said Jeremy Koeries, a local pastor who has been running the food distribution at the camp. "It's easier as they are almost exclusively halaal."
Sapa earlier reported that tensions between displaced Malawian and Somalis broke out at the Soetwater Disaster Management Centre, due to the lack of space.
Somalis at the camp confirmed on Tuesday that there had been tension over resources, and stressed this had nothing to do with tribalism.
The addition of 2 000 people stretched the camp, one of several housing displaced foreigners, to 3 000. Officials said numbers were hard to track as some left for work and returned later.
The impromptu camps, relying heavily on public donations and volunteer support, could not adequately supply everyone's needs.
People lined up for clothes donations as the temperature dipped and sharp winds blew through the tents.
"Tomorrow it will be cold again," said one Somali man. "It is better they take us back to Somalia."
Other Somalis with him agreed. "If we die it is better we die in our own country than in South Africa."
Many of them had lost all their possessions after their shops were looted in various townships.
Since the xenophobic attacks broke out in Cape Town on Thursday, relief centres have been set up in the areas surrounding Cape Town.
The attacks left 15 000 to 20 000 people displaced, as they fled the violence.
- News24
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