Somali citizens are complaining about Canadian-Somali national Mohamed Osman Haji Ali, who has resumed soliciting money from them for promised travel to Europe and North America.
Information continues to emerge concerning Mohamed Osman Haji Ali, who is known for his involvement in people smuggling and misleading members of the public through the use of a purported organisation under the guise of the Somali Congress of Trade Unions (SOCOTU). According to local complainants who spoke to Shabelle Media Network, he has for years promised individuals that he could facilitate their travel to Europe and North America, collecting money from some of them without fulfilling those promises or refunding the payments.
Mohamed Osman Haji left Somalia several years ago and later settled in Winnipeg, Canada, where he claimed asylum after obtaining a US visa and crossing the US-Canada border. After remaining in Canada for at least five years and obtaining legal status, he has now resumed activities in Mogadishu and Nairobi related to the movement and smuggling of people across international borders while closely working with his accomplice in the human trafficking business, Mohamud Hassan Ali, who is said to have fled Switzerland nearly a decade ago after almost being caught in people-smuggling activities.
According to information available from reliable sources, UN agencies, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have all rejected Mohamed Osman Haji’s claim that he represents a trade union. They officially informed the Somali government that they do not recognise him as a representative of workers or any legitimate trade union, while indicating that they were aware of allegations linking him to serious criminal activities. Sources within the government told Shabelle that the Somali government became aware of these matters after receiving official correspondence from the ILO.
According to reliable information, documents shared with the governments of Canada and the United States indicate that Mohamed Osman Haji is the subject of ongoing scrutiny over cases related to people smuggling, with individuals being contacted and interviewed in both North America and Europe. It is further claimed that law enforcement authorities in Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries and Canada are also monitoring the cases and movements concerning Mohamed Osman Haji and Mohamud Hassan Ali.
Media reports recently stated that these activities have become a family affair. The reports state that Mohamed Osman Haji’s father, Osman Haji Ali, a former member of parliament, has publicly defended his son through social media in a desperate move and has actively sought to assist him. His brother, Abdullahi Osman Haji, is also said to have publicly supported him through social media. According to the local media, the three men have continued to claim that they represent a trade union which people who spoke to the media described as a “family cartel”, operating through an entity that is unrecognised and nonexistent by the global trade union movement.
Shabelle Media Network has learnt that Osman Haji Ali has been using his contacts within the Somali government in an attempt to persuade officials to allow his son to operate under the name of a trade union so that he can continue his human trafficking activities. One source said, “The family’s objective is for the government to facilitate these activities by granting legitimacy to an organisation that has no legal or recognised standing because, for them, this is a source of income, regardless of its ill-gotten wealth.”
The media also discovered that Mohamud Hassan Ali, a former secretary to Somalia’s previous Minister of Labour, Abdiweli Ibrahim Mudey, assisted Mohamed Osman Haji by using documents issued during the former minister’s tenure. It further claims that the UN recently informed the Somali Government that Mohamud Hassan Ali, who had previously been registered as a government official, is now falsely claiming to represent a trade union.
The media was able to investigate and uncover that some individuals who were taken to Europe by Mohamed Osman Haji and Mohamud Hassan Ali were later apprehended by authorities and remain under investigation, the latest being an individual who presented himself to the authorities in France to seek asylum but was subsequently rejected and deported.
One local resident whose relative was duped out of money by Mohamed Osman in the hope of being taken to Canada said: “I was shocked by the son’s behaviour, but what is even more disturbing is his father, Osman Haji, who is encouraging his son to continue the crimes and disgraceful acts in which he is involved. It is a father and son working together either to smuggle people or deceive them. They represent no one but are pursuing their family interests.”
Another local resident in Mogadishu added that last year Mohamed Osman collected money from two people with the promise of taking them to Switzerland. After failing to do so, they demanded repayment, forcing him to leave Mogadishu and hide in Nairobi. He only returned after committing to repay the money in instalments.
If the father’s and his two sons’ claims are genuine, why have only family members come forward to defend their ringleader? This confirms that it is a family business intended to profit from human trafficking. The question is how someone living in Canada, where the rule of law prevails, can continue to survive while engaging in such criminal activities.”
Shabelle Media Network has also received the names of, and details of attempts made by, government officials whom Osman Haji Ali approached in an effort to obtain assistance for his son so that he could continue trafficking people.
