Finland’s minister of interior affairs and far-right party member Meri Rantanen visited Somalia to find a way to deport Somali asylum seekers from Finland, according to a statement published on the Finnish Interior Ministry’s home page, in what many see a move to target the ethnic paperless Somalis for election propaganda.
In the statement, Rantanen affirms that Finland wishes to develop a functioning partnership with Somalia that serves both countries’ interests.
“Finland’s top priority is to establish effective return arrangements and develop related cooperation with Somalia. This means that the Finnish far-right Party has a mechanism to deport Somali citizens staying in Finland as asylum seekers.” The statement added.
In return, the Finnish government will reassume its country (Somalia) program for bilateral development, which was suspended under the decision of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio, who hails from the Finnish far-right party (Finns).
Minister elucidated that development cooperation is conditional on countries’ agreement to repatriate their citizens upon Finland’s request.
Apart from a post on Somalia’s Office of Prime Minister’s Facebook page, Somalia has not issued any official statement clarifying the Finnish Interior minister’s official visit to Somalia so far and whether they discussed returning arrangements. The minister met Prime Minister of Somalia Hamza Abdi Barre and Minister of Internal Security of Somalia Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail.
In Finland, the number of undocumented people is unclear, but it is estimated to be about 3000-6000 individuals according to the Finnish Refugee Council. Undocumented Somali nationals are perhaps 100-200 individuals in Finland.
Thus analysts believe that this number is not a burden to the Finnish Governmental and social system, but the aim to bring this Somalia topic right now is solely to advance Finns Party’s campaign for the upcoming county and municipal elections in April 2025.
Riikka Purra, Chairperson of the Finnish far right Party, Finland’s Finance minister welcomed Minister Rantanen’s move to arrange some kind of return mechanism for the undocumented Somali nationals in Finland to Somalia and she said in a statement in her X account. “Minister of the Interior Rantanen visited Somalia. Promoting returns Bilateral development cooperation in the Somalia Country Program is at a standstill because returns have not worked.” Riikka Purra, Chairperson of the Finnish far right Party said.
Sisäministeri Rantanen kävi Somaliassa.
❗️Edistämässä paluita.
Kahdenvälinen kehitysyhteistyö Somalian maaohjelmassa on katkolla, koska palautukset eivät ole toimineet. pic.twitter.com/TYc5sUslBq
— Riikka Purra (@ir_rkp) January 22, 2025
Sebastian Tynkkynen, a Member of the European Parliament and Finns party member, who is well known for his critical statements on immigrants including Somalis in Finland praised minister Rantanen’s attempt to seek a way to deport asylum seekers from Somalia, to whom Finland had not granted asylum or permission to reside Finland. Tynkkynen said “Mari visited Somalia to promote the return of Somalis to their homeland. There is a woman who does.”
Mari kävi Somaliassa edistämässä somalien palautuksia kotimaahansa.
Siinä on nainen, joka tekee 💪
(Kuvassa itse Somalian pääministeri) pic.twitter.com/WX27Broq72
— Sebastian Tynkkynen MEP 🇫🇮 (@SebastianTyne) January 22, 2025
Ville Tavio, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, who hails from the Finnish far Right Party sent a supportive message to Minister Rantanen’s visit to Somalia in his X account: The country development cooperation program for Somalia was suspended to establish effective return cooperation. Minister of the Interior Rantanen’s visit to Somalia advances our goals.”
Somalian kehitysyhteistyön maaohjelma keskeytettiin toimivan palutusyhteistyön aikaansaamiseksi.
Sisäministeri Rantasen vierailu Somaliaan edistää tavoitteitamme. https://t.co/IplmpoNpC9
— Ville Tavio (@VilleTavio) January 22, 2025
In Finland, analysts define Minister Rantanen’s motivation to visit Somalia as a way to promote her party in the coming county and municipal elections as an attempt to coax more voters. The Finns Party availed in many ways in misleading information about immigrants in Finland labeling them as a burden to the Finnish society and a parasite on taxpayers, by politicizing human rights and humanitarian issues.
Finland played a significant role in stabilization and development missions in Somalia. In addition to humanitarian assistance, peace and mediation are what Somalia needs most, and Finland masters this exemplarily with excessive experience. Finland also supports Somalia together with the international community fighting against terrorism, enhancing the police and security sector’s capacity to function properly.
Weighing the impact of deportation pushed by the Finnish far-right party, which is the second largest party in the Finnish coalition government
Asylum seekers in Finland come from different countries and each one has personal grounds based on his/her asylum application, so it is not wise to generalize them and to target specific ethnic community.
Taking as an example, Somali asylum seekers in Finland are mostly young people according to unconfirmed information, and had a problem related to terrorist group Al-Shabab in Somalia. When these people return to Somalia after many years, they will be under immediate surveillance by Al-Shabab and might fall under their trap.
In addition to the uncertainty that undocumented people from Somalia in Finland lived with and endured, the Finnish Interior minister’s trip to Somalia plus rumors of a return agreement between Somalia and Finland dismayed them.
Ali Hassan, a 35-year-old Somali refugee whose asylum application was rejected almost half-dozen times during his 8-year stay in Finland, shared his story with us. In our meeting, Ali was exhausted, desperate, and occasionally in a pensive state of mind.
However, he believes that good days are ahead and will come sooner or later. Despite his difficult time, Ali has something to be thankful for: “ Thanks to Allah, I got married here in Finland, have three children and a lovely wife. This gives me a reason to live and express my gratitude to Allah and my wife, who supports me in every circumstance.”
The returnees from the Somalia government’s point of view
Somalia, as a government, understands fully its limit to help its citizens deported from Europe or America to re-integrate into the community due to the government’s few or zero financial capabilities to give hand to the deportees in economic wise. However, the government also sympathizes with the diaspora’s role in the Somali people’s means of living, because the money that the Diaspora sends to Somalia by supporting their relatives plays a significant role in the country’s budget and money circulation. In 2018 Somali migrants around the world remitted 1.3 billion USD according to an article published by Rift Valley Institute.
This amount of money goes directly to the country through worldwide remittance companies, which have branches and headquarters across Somalia.
All in all, Minister Meri Rantanen’s visit to Somalia is considered as a tactical campaign aimed at singling out undocumented Somali refugees only to foster her party’s upcoming elections.
Written by: Abdi Musse Mohamud
The author is chief editor of Finnish-Somali media network, media trainer and peace advocate. He writes about peace and conflict solution in Horn of Africa. He can be reached via email: abdimusem@yahoo.com
Note: The Article can be freely reproduced, published and distributed by mentioning the source.
Source: SSMV