Racial melting pot an 'explosive' brew

By PATRICK GOWER and GEOFF CUMMING

Twenty years ago it was a typical neighbourhood of Pakeha and Maori.

Now the state housing estate around McGehan Close, Owairaka, is part of the new Auckland - a melting pot of Somali and Ethiopian refugees, Chinese, Indians, Tongans and Samoans.

This is where Tongan Elikena Inia was stabbed to death during a night of brawls between Pacific Islanders and Somalis.

Four Somali families have settled in the neighbourhood after escaping the civil war in their homeland, joining about 1000 others in Mt Roskill, Mt Albert and Avondale.

Somalis and Pacific Islanders had been fighting on the streets around McGehan Close throughout Wednesday night after a row over a football being run over led to an armed group of Somalis marching down the street and Mr Inia being stabbed.

Mursal Mohamud, a 21-year-old Somali who lives with his family in McGehan Close, said there had been no real trouble since they moved in a year ago. He has just finished sixth form at Mt Albert Grammar and is looking for a job.

Mr Mohamud came to New Zealand with his mother and four siblings four years ago. His father died from malaria in Somalia.

They were moved to the Owairaka house by Housing New Zealand.

The McGehan Close-Delphine Close neighbourhood has historically been a pocket of deprivation. Across Underwood Park is the Wesley state housing area, with its large Pacific Island and Maori populations. An influx of migrants and refugees in recent years has changed the ethnic mix.

Community worker Zena Wrigley said it had been a matter of time before simmering tensions boiled over. "Something's been brewing for at least 18 months. You've got a community that has been radically changed in a very short time. There are no facilities for the young people," she said.

The Auckland Somali Community Association chairman, Mahad Warsame, said many Somalis were refugees . Many were related and liked to live near each other.

A lot of the young people had found jobs, but language difficulties and lack of education were problems in most households.

Mr Mohamud said language barriers could have contributed to the fighting.

"Until I learned the language, I thought everybody was insulting me ... Arrival here is difficult."

Glenda Fryer, a city councillor who represents the ward, said new migrants lacked support from government agencies.

"When you get different cultures with language barriers thrown into an area of deprivation, misunderstandings and problems will arise.

"There's no one on the ground to sort out relatively minor issues.

"There's ethnic, religious and cultural differences in the melting pot and it can be highly explosive."

Auckland deputy mayor David Hay said he had heard of tensions lately in the neighbourhood.

"The Government has to face up to the fact that they have caused a huge change in dynamics in that community through migrants and refugees," he said.

But Mr Warsame said Somalis were happy with the support provided by state agencies.

"This problem came from one community ... It was young people and they had been drinking.

"New Zealand is a safe place, but sometimes some people make mistakes."

Meanwhile, the family of Elikena Inia pleaded for no revenge attacks or retaliatory action in the wider community.

At his Delphine Close home last night, the uncle he was named after, Dr Elikena Halaliku, said the family, who moved here from Tonga five years ago, were in deep mourning and their hearts were firmly with his pregnant fiancee and their one-year-old daughter.

Mr Inia was a talented athlete who excelled in rugby and boxing as well as in a Tongan cultural group at Mt Albert Grammar School. To some friends he was known as "King".

Dr Halaliku said the family knew what it was like to be immigrants: "If anything is to come of this it is that we have to live together, not divide further," he said.

"Although we are angry and shocked ... the only way to move forward from here is to forgive those who committed this ... crime. But we will not forget Elikena."