History of the Somali Bantu
In the 1800s, the Sultanate of Zanzibar controlled East Africa from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique and directed the trade of Bantu slaves captured in Mozambique and Tanzania to both European buyers and Africans to work on plantations on the continent. Some of these slaves marched over 400 miles to the coast and were then transported north to work on plantations in Somalia near the Indian Ocean coast.
Between 1800 and 1890, between 25,000 and 50,000 slaves were brought to the Somali riverine areas. In the 1840s, the first fugitive slaves fled the Shabelle River valley for the more remote Juba River valley in southern Somalia. By the early 1900s, it is estimated that over 35,000 former slaves were living in the Juba River valley. Most fugitive slaves remained in Somalia and did not return to their homeland because of the dangerous landscape and hostile tribes of northeastern Kenya.
The Italians began to free the slaves who had not escaped in 1895, but some inland groups remained in slavery until the 1930s. The Italians introduced coerced labor laws which forced freed slaves to work on Italian-owned plantations. The Bantu were forced to abandon their own villages to live in villages around Italian plantations. The British abolished this system when they gained control of Somalia after World War II.
Somalia gained its independence from the British in 1960, and though the country was relatively peaceful until civil war broke out in 1991, the Somali Bantu faced overt discrimination from the Somali majority. In the 70s and 80s, some Somali Bantu were forced to join the Somali army to fight in the war against Ethiopia.
After the death of President Siad Bare in 1991, bitter fighting broke out between clans for power and the infrastructure of the country collapsed. As the Somali Bantu were farmers and had stockpiles of food in a country with a starving populace, they faced attacks from bandits and militias. The bandits and militias not only stole food but robbed, raped, and murdered Somali Bantu farmers.
In October of 1992, the Somali Bantu began to flee Somalia for Kenya. It is estimated that by January 1994 there were over 10,000 Somali Bantu refugees living in refugee camps in northern Kenya. The Dadaab refugee camps are located in Kenya’s inhospitable north. The Somali Bantu settled in remote areas of the camps, where they were more vulnerable to bandit attacks. Before the U.S. started a firewood collection program, women were often raped by men from the camps when they went in to the bush to look for firewood. Life in the refugee camps was uncertain and violent for the Somali Bantu.
The Somali Bantu originally sought resettlement to Mozambique and Tanzania and were finally considered for resettlement in the United States in 1999. Though resettlement was supposed to begin in 2001, it was postponed until 2003 after September 11th. Approximately 12,000 Somali Bantus were resettled to the U.S. and that population has grown as families continue to have children. There are currently approximately 1,500 Somali Bantus living in Tucson.
