Abla عبلة

The history of Somalis in Zambia 🇿🇲🤝🇸🇴 began in the late 1960s as a targeted economic recruitment effort and evolved through waves of refugee migration into an established mercantile community. *In a sense, this is a pushback against @joseph_kalimbwe, who I feel doesn't have a proper grasp of Zambian history and is mostly looking for "the next thing" to whine about and try to create relevancy. it's important to know the history of Somali people in Zambia, not paint them with broad brush strokes. sadly, he's blocked me so probably he won't see this. it's sad that he's doesn't honestly engage with people and isn't willing to learn anything that runs counter to whatever he comes up with in his mind. 1. Genesis: The "Hell Run" and Expatriate Drivers (1960s) • The Economic Blockade: Following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by Ian Smith’s white-minority regime in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1965, Zambia faced a severe trade and fuel blockade cutting off its southern transit routes. • The Tanzania Link: President Kenneth Kaunda partnered with Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere to establish the Zambia-Tanzania Road Services Limited—famously known as the “Hell Run”—along the Great North Road to haul vital copper exports out and fuel/imports in. • Recruitment of Somali Drivers: Lacking a sufficient local pool of heavy-duty and fuel-tank drivers capable of navigating the harsh terrain, the Zambian government recruited approximately 70 skilled Somali truck drivers. This marked the first organized arrival of Somalis in Zambia, primarily settling around Lusaka and Ndola (such as Chaisa Township and Bwana Mkubwa). 2. Settlement, Expansion, and Early Tensions (1980s) • Bwana Mkubwa Settlement (1986): Somali fuel-tank drivers and their expanding families established an unauthorized settlement near the Bwana Mkubwa Railway Station outside Ndola, consisting of self-built mud houses, wells, and community spaces. • Government Action: Prompted by media reports and concerns over unapproved squatting, President Kaunda’s UNIP government demolished the Bwana Mkubwa settlement. However, rather than leaving Zambia, the community dispersed into townships like Ndeke, Twapia, and expanded footprints in Lusaka, gradually bringing in wives, relatives, and building deep-rooted commercial networks. 3. Civil War and the Refugee Wave (1991–Onward) • Outbreak of Somalia’s Civil War: When state collapse and civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991, a new wave of Somali refugees and asylum seekers began arriving in Zambia. • Intra-Diaspora Strains: By the late 1990s, political and clan divisions from back home occasionally spilled over into the diaspora, leading to internal community friction, security scrutiny, and occasional interventions by Zambian immigration authorities. • Crackdowns and Policy Scrutiny: As numbers grew—with estimates eventually surpassing 5,000 to thousands more concentrated in urban hubs like Lusaka and Ndola—Zambian security forces periodically conducted sweeps and crackdowns on undocumented migrants or illegal settlements (such as high-profile detentions in Lusaka in 2010). 4. Contemporary Status and Economic Role • Business and Trade: Today, the Somali diaspora in Zambia is heavily integrated into the nation’s commercial fabric. Somali-run enterprises span retail and wholesale trade, transport and logistics, hotels, restaurants, and the oil and gas sectors, with Somali businesswomen playing prominent community and economic roles. • Second-Generation Integration: Many early settlers have children and grandchildren who were born in Zambia, speaking local languages alongside Somali and holding deep socio-economic ties to the country.