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SOUTH AFRICA: Suicide scam to scare authorities into action

09 Jun 2008 18:21:51 GMT
Source: IRIN

JOHANNESBURG, 9 June 2008 (IRIN) - Residents of Soetwater Camp, a shelter on the outskirts of Cape Town, have threatened to commit suicide in an attempt to draw attention to dire conditions in the camp and a growing feeling of neglect and inaction at the hands of authorities and aid agencies.

Soetwater, 30 km south of Cape Town, has become home to over 4,000 foreign nationals displaced by South Africa's recent wave of xenophobic violence. Local media reported that about 100 people, mainly Somali nationals unhappy with their treatment at Soetwater Camp, had threatened to walk into the sea to drown themselves and said four people were already feared dead.

But according to the South African National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), which had deployed three boats to search the waters on June 8, the rumors proved false.

"The incident turned out to be a non-incident – we were on standby following the groups allegations [that four were already missing] and the threat that they wanted to commit suicide in the water," NSRI spokesman, Craig Lambinon, told IRIN.

According to media reports, one man had jumped into the water to demonstrate how other Somali's had disappeared. But, Lambinon said, there "was no evidence" to suggest anyone was missing.

Nowhere to go

The aggrieved group allegedly claimed they would rather die than go back to their home country or stay in South Africa under current circumstances.

In a statement released on June 8 by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a South African activist group, called for the immediate closing of the Soetwater Camp where "a tradgedy was unfolding" because the settlement fell far "below international humanitarian standards."

"There is enormous dissatisfaction at the camp. The conditions are awful: it is cold and insufficiently sheltered - Both the [Western Cape] province and civil society have condemned these camps," the statement said.

A meeting with UN officials on June 7 at the camp reportedly fueled the incident. "Displaced refugees had several meetings with a representative of the United Nations at the TAC and AIDS Law Project offices in Cape Town. One of these meetings broke down. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the latest crisis is a consequence of this," the TAC statement said.

According to Yusuf Hassan Abdi, spokesman for the UN High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR), a "rumor had gone round that the UN would start registering people for resettlement in a third country – like the United States, UK, Australia or Canada."

This was a "major pull factor," drawing large numbers of Somali refugees to Soetwater. Abdi estimated that the camp now accommodated some 1,800 Somali's.

But, Abdi said, given recent events and "the large number of refugees and asylum seekers affected, resettlement can not be a priority at this point in time." He added: "There was no attempted suicide at all – they [the Somalis] used this to get attention."

Abdi acknowledged that Soetwater fell far below accepted minimum standards and said that authorities would move to resettle its inhabitants.

But fear and loss of all their property meant most would be reluctant to reintegrate into South African society. According to Abdi one refugee representative he spoke to said: "you can make [the camp] a five star hotel – we are not interested."

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