FEATURE: Mecca, a sanctuary for non-Arab 'illegal dreamers' (dpa)

Middle East Features
By Pakinam Amer
Apr 12, 2007, 14:08 GMT

Mecca - For some non-Arab Muslims, Mecca not only represents sanctity. It also embodies a notion not unlike the 'American dream' - a place promising a secure job, food on the table and a happy family.

Mecca has a special place in the hearts of Muslims as the birth place of the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, and the place where the Koran was revealed to him.

It also houses the Kaaba, the central stone structure believed to have been built by Abraham - a place of pilgrimage for Muslims from all over the world, and the place to which they direct their prayers five times a day.

There are two types of foreigners in Mecca: those who entered the country on a pilgrim's visa and stayed, hiding from the authorities, and those who took refuge there for religious or political reasons.

Both groups live in secluded neighbourhoods in the heart of Mecca or on the outskirts of the city, 73 kilometres east of Jeddah.

However, the dreams of poverty-stricken foreign Muslims, who seep into the city with their families in toe, are often shattered, and they frequently end up working in badly-paid day jobs.
Many of them resort to pick-pocketing, while others get into prostitution and drug trafficking, local observers say. Others beg.

Near the holy mosque in central Mecca, numerous foreign Muslims dressed in black ask the worshippers for money or food in their broken Arabic.

Persistent female beggars as young as ten trot in their flowing knee-length veils behind strangers, while the crippled among them make a point of showing their amputated legs or arms to the mosque visitors to goad sympathy.

There are no statistics on the number of illegal residents currently living in Mecca, but a police officer, who refused to disclose his name, said there might be 'thousands of them' living among Mecca's one-million-plus population.

They come in large numbers, he said, through main checkpoints or through unofficial routes in the mountains, and they are sometimes aided by Saudis who help them stay under-cover from the police in return for money.

According to the policeman, who is assigned to a local police department that monitors violations of foreign residents, said that at least '500 illegal residents are rounded up every night. Most of them are men.'

'They confess that they came to Mecca looking for a source of living,' he said, adding: 'They admit that they have not come for the Hajj or the Ummra (pilgrimages). Some claim they're Muslims while they're not.'

Some Mecca residents feel insecure around foreigners, who are often accused of violence. But the authorities failed to clamp down on them and only struck when crimes happened, some Saudis complain.

The Afghans, reportedly with expired visas, live in an area called al-Masafy Mountain, near the Old City - the central area where the al-Masjid al-Haram mosque and the Kaaba are located. The Burmese and the Pakistanis are largely based in Qouz al-Nakassa.

In Hosh Bakr, near al-Mansour district, where hundreds of Nigerian Muslims have been living for decades, one can see the misery. Amid the dirt and the garbage, their make-shift camps have slowly turned into brick and mud houses.

No larger than a cabin, each house is said to take in at least a family of five or six, some even more. Built along the rugged foothills of the mountain, the houses have neither sewerage nor electricity.

The people live on bottles of expired milk, juices and food that are sold cheaply. Water tankers tagged 'Well water, not suitable for drinking' drive around the area. The people use it for drinking and washing because it is affordable. A local resident explains that this is their only water supply.

No statistics on mortality rates in the area are available, as many inhabitants have neither papers nor identification. But accidents and disease are common in their communities.

Hanan al-Matrafy, a physician at a local clinic, said that particularly skin rashes and diseases were spreading quickly, as were diarrhoea and common colds.

However, she insisted that state hospitals were frequently sending health campaigns and nurses into these areas, providing free medication and vaccinations to both authorized and unauthorized residents.

'The state is keen that infections are not spread,' al-Matrafy said. Yet, some services, such as assistance at birth, are not free.

In the quarters around their houses, the African Muslims engage in their morning activities setting up their local flea-market, where they sell food, second-hand clothes, rusty car spares, old toys and many other goods, which some people claim are stolen.

The locals recognize strangers straightaway, and are afraid of talking to the press. Most of them, especially the older ones, do not even speak Arabic.

One of the few Saudis living among the foreigners said that their fear came from 'the constant police raids that these areas are subjected to.'

The young man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that local authorities imposed a daily midnight-to-dawn curfew on these areas. 'When I attempt to go out after dusk, I meet several checkpoints, and I'm asked all kinds of questions even though I'm a Saudi.'

He said he had to justify himself for leaving his house, and repeatedly explain his whereabouts. But everyone in these areas faced the same security restrictions.

'Everyone knows (the authorities) cannot control this (illegal) populace. If they arrest ten of them, 50 others will come in their place.'

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2006,2007 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.

Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/features/article_1290468.php/Mecca_a_sanctuary_for_non-Arab_illegal_dreamers
http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/Mecca_a_sanctuary_for_non_Arab_ille_04122007.html