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Arabia
Saudi illegals in legal limbo
2013-03-31
Title sez it all...
JEDDAH -- Down a narrow alleyway deep in the Jeddah slum of Karantina, three women from Sudan have set up stalls under colourful parasols, selling peanuts, hibiscus petals, dried pulses, baskets, frankincense, calabashes and sandalwood. They laugh and gossip in the sunshine, swathed in bright printed cloth, while a scrawny black cat picks its way between piles of rubbish. But when approached by a stranger, they are cautious.

Jeddah has attracted outsiders for centuries, being the main port of arrival for Muslims making the Haj pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah. It is this history that gives Karantina its name: older residents can remember when it was "quarantine" for pilgrims.

But the people who now live in this slum in the south of Saudi Arabia's second biggest city were drawn also for the kingdom's wealth. They live in a legal limbo, sometimes for generations.
Posted by:Steve White

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