By Andrea Hart and Jean Yung
At least one Somali national has attempted suicide by jumping in the Atlantic Ocean as 100 others threatened to do the same in a desperate bid to get the United Nations' attention.
While police and the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) prevented a mass suicide at Soetwater near Cape Town on Sunday, rumours spread that refugees were still missing, causing scores of people to go swimming to look for them.
Husein Faras, who attempted suicide, was rescued by other Somalis and carried back to the camp after having spent several hours in the ocean, refugees said.
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Community members surrounded the shivering 25-year-old Faras as he rubbed the bloodied cuts on his legs.
"He wanted to die because of his stress," said community leader Abdulaani Wenliye.
"His brother was murdered by robbers in Du Noon in 2006 and now he has nothing to eat."
Unrest was sparked in the refugee camp after an unsatisfactory meeting between refugee leaders and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on Saturday in Cape Town.
Immediately following the discussions, Somalis in Soetwater went on a hunger strike that escalated into threats of suicide.
They were "left with no options and no one else to appeal to", and "had no choice but to resort to desperate measures to get the world's attention", said the Soetwater refugee leadership committee.
The NSRI pulled the people looking for the missing four from the water, said incident commander Ian Klopper. Three rescue ships and a team of swimmers had been sent to the scene at 10am.
"We woke up and heard that four people had gone in the water to kill themselves," said Fatima Hiljk, who went searching in the water with 20 other community members and was pulled out by the NSRI several hours later.
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