Somali woman still in jail

FAILURE to provide immigration authorities with valid travel documents has kept a Somali citizen and her two children from being released from a Namibian prison almost a month after a case against her for travelling with a forged passport was finalised.

Numei Eli, who arrived in the country from Zambia and originally the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in November, is being held with her two children, aged four and six, at the Windhoek Central Prison.
She was set to be released already on December 12 last year, after she pleaded guilty in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court to the charges against her.
She had been discovered to be travelling with a forged Irish passport by immigration officers as she entered Namibia.
According to the woman, she had attempted to flee ongoing conflict in the DRC, where she had been resident with her children.
She had lost contact with her husband, a Congolese truck driver, as a result of the fighting, she noted then.
The Chief of Immigration in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Elizabeth Negumbo, yesterday confirmed that Eli and her children were still being held in Windhoek, saying that it was simply because she had up to now failed to present the authorities with official documentation of her country of origin.
Eli had decided not to pursue refugee status as it had been hinted she would, Negumbo said.
A Namibian source who had helped Numei during her ordeal in the country recently withdrew her support for the woman, referring to ‘lies and half-truths’ that made it difficult to help her.
‘We’ve made contact with a man who is apparently her husband, and he promised to send her documents. But there has been nothing from him. And she’s had so many different stories – then she’s from Somalia, then from Kenya, then the DRC. She’s not being honest,’ the source said.
When Eli arrived in the country, Immigration officials attributed her dilemma to increasing incidents of human trafficking throughout Africa.
An immigration official who testified during her court case noted that traffickers particularly tried to leave the continent from South Africa and Namibia.
Also caught with Eli were two agents, apparently from the DRC and Congo.
Both have since left the country, after pleading guilty to charges of illegally entering Namibia and helping someone else to do the same.
Eli is said to have paid them US$13 000 for the forged documents that she entered the country with.