Somali Bantu Resettlement

The Abdi Aden Family along with other Bantu Somali are arriving in the United States by the thousands as refugees. These refugees were in camps in Kenya, after being displaced from their homeland Somalia in the 1990s.

In Somalia, the Bantu “constituted the backbone of southern Somali agriculture as peasant farmers and plantation workers, and I many cases were exploited as cheap labor. Since Somalian independence in 1960 the Bantu people were increasingly denied land tgenure, educational and political opportunities, and civil rights.

When civil war broke out in Somalia, the Bantu were terroriezed by militia groups. Because of the tradition of discrimination against the Bantu people, and because they had food stocks, they became targets for looting.

Between 1992 and 1993 more than 9000 Somali Bantu fled to refugee camps in Kenya where they continued to endure discrimination and bandit attacks at a disproportionately high rate compared to other refugee camps.

The Somali Bantu have managed to thrive in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps by drawing on their agricultural skills and community cooperation. They gained a reputation for being both industrious and adaptable.

The Somali Bantu were recognized by the U.S. government as an extgremely vulnerable refugee population, unable to safely return to their homes in Somali even if peace should be restored there. About 13,000 individuals will be resettled in the United States by nine non-governmental organizations over the course of a couple of years. Bantu refugees began arriving in May of 1993.