Friday, March 29, 2024
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The destructive legacies of Jahiliya* based Clan Loyalties in Somalia

By Ali H. Abdulla

Dugsi Male Qabyaaladi Waxay Dumiso
Clannism provides NO shelter; it ONLY causes destruction.
Mooyaane”
Abwaan Cabdullaahi Suldaan Timacadde

During the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia in 1977, the Wall Street journal had an article that compared the Somali people to the Israelis in their cohesiveness. Somalis in all regions of the horn were united in their quest to regain the territories that the British colonialists bequeathed to their neighbors even though most of the populations in those territories were and still are ethnic Somalis.

Although they are the most homogeneous people in Africa, Somalis today seem to be the most divided people in the world, to the extent that a major section of the country declared unilateral separation from the mother country, Somalia, after the collapse of the military regime of Somalia in 1991.

The disintegration of Somalia into rival clans has its roots in the tribal culture the country inherited centuries ago from the early Arab settlers in Somalia. Although several clans in Somalia claim to be descendants of Arab Sheikhs, they do not share with their Arab relatives distinguishing traits like language, color and physical appearance. But the two do share Sunni Islam, camel herding, horseback riding, poetry, clan conflicts and revenge killings.

The infamous clan conflict known as the “Basus”  was a  clan warfare between two related Arab clans in the Arabian peninsula in which thousands lost their lives as a result of a protracted conflict over a she camel. The Somalis have experienced many similar incidents such as the “Qabaal” conflict in which thousands of very closely related sub-clans lost their lives over a damaged bucket used to water camels.

The famous Somali poet and Dervish warrior, Ismail Mire, has a poem in which he recounts the incident and belittles the idea of fighting over a damaged bucket that could have been fixed easily.

In “A Somali Poetic Combat”, the late Polish professor Andrzejewski and Musa H. I. Galaal  had compiled and translated a series of poems that document a clan conflict triggered by a poet known as Ali Dhuh who lamented in a poem the inability of his she camel to drink from a well that traditionally belonged to a related clan but overtaken by a rival clan. The poem ignited a long warfare between the two rival clans and produced a series of poems known as “Guba”, named after the poem that first ignited the war by Ali Dhuuh.

If you think that these clan conflicts are things of the past, you would be extremely mistaken since it happens regularly in many parts of the country. A few months ago, two related sub-clans slugged it out in an area that is considered relatively stable compared to the rest of the country. As I pen this article, two clans are slaughtering each other mercilessly in all-out war in Jubaland, a federal state located in the deep Somali South.

While most Arab countries have outgrown the most negative aspects of their clan-based culture, their supposed Somali cousins are still stuck in a system that even the prophet of Islam peace be upon him, labeled as a stinking swamp.  The early period of military rule in Somalia was characterized by the adoption of scientific socialism and a halfhearted trial to abolish the decadent tribal culture. The regime even held symbolic ceremonies in which clan effigies were buried in deep graves. Unfortunately, the beast reared its ugly head after the Ogaden War which weakened the Somali army and resulted in the defection of many senior military officers to Ethiopia, the very enemy they fought against to free their usurped territories. Those officers played the ugly clan card well and managed to influence their clan members to rise against the dictatorial central government in Mogadishu. That was the end of the cohesive Somali society that the Wall Street Journal talked about in its article during the Ogaden war. And that is why Somalis spread to all corners of the world to seek shelter from a system that destroyed their cities and livelihoods. And that is why it has been extremely difficult to rebuild a credible government since then.

No wonder that a former US ambassador predicted after the collapse of the central government that Somalis were like a horse that could be led to water but couldn’t be forced to drink:  meaning that despite the efforts of the international community to bring Somalis together, it would be extremely difficult to unite them to form a credible government that could replace the one they overthrew. The constant squabbles between the current central government in Mogadishu and some of the Federal States are largely clan-based.

Ironically, the destructive clan-based system keeps following them even in the diaspora where Somalis tend to congregate around their clan structures. Many of them even help fan the flames of clan conflicts by funding these conflicts, forgetting the fact that such a system had destroyed their country and rendered them as refuges in foreign lands where a large number of their youth languish in jails after failing to cope with and adjust in alien cultures that rendered them as marginalized third class citizens. Even the Somali parliament and government institutions today are based on a clan sharing mechanism known as the 4.5 formula in which clans are allocated seats based on the number of members in each clan. These numbers are not based on facts and figures since no reliable clan-based census has been conducted in Somalia for decades. 

To get elected or to discredit their rivals, Somali politicians still use the clan card often when it suits their ambitions for power. This fact can be illustrated by the recent behavior of the former President Sheikh Sharif, who felt wronged by the Federal government. The former president was blocked by the federal government from attending a coronation ceremony of President Ahmed Madoobe of Jubbaland,  in an election that the federal government considered as rigged. The government also denied landing rights to a plane taken by the former Presidents Sheikh Sharif and Hassan Sheikh to deliver aid to Hiiraan region, that suffered from extensive flooding.

The central government justified its action by the fact that destination airport was flooded and the plane carrying the former presidents and their entourage could not land safely. Instead of using the federal courts to seek redress, the ex-president took to the air waves and  tried to incite his clan against the Federal government by swearing three times that he and his clan would topple the government and evict its members from Mogadishu if it dared again to stop him from practicing his constitutional right of flying to wherever he wished in the country. While he may have been justified in his opposition to the government, his playing the ugly clan card has discredited him and even brought widespread condemnation from his own clan: a positive sign that things may be changing for the better and Somalis may be on the road to recovery from their destructive clan habits.

After 30 years of drifting apart, there are signs that the educated Somali youth are rebelling against the older generations who cannot shake off the clan bug. There are encouraging signs that a growing number of young Somalis who have elected to inoculate themselves against the clan bug. For example, thousands of Somali youth in the North of Somalia are standing up to their elders, politicians and even religious scholars, many of whom opted to circle the wagons and use old grievances to divide Somalia along clan lines. These young Somalis flock to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, defying a travel ban by their leaders whose violation could result in losing their freedom.

Farxan Timacade

Among these youth is Farxan Timacade, the great grandson of the famous Somali poet “Tima’ade’ who described tribalism as an affliction that provides no shelter but only causes destruction. The young Tima’ade’ has recently embarked on a long journey across Somalia dubbing his journey as the “Journey of Unity”. In a new video that shows his packed suitcases, he recites two moving poems that call for a united Somalia, something that is taboo in his region of birth. He reminds one of the long gone older Tima’ade’ in his poetic style and determination.

The “Mar-Labaad Midnimo” ,Unity one more time, is a new movement spearheaded by an ex-rebel who had a major role in the demise of the military regime in 1991, and the creation of the separatist Somaliland enclave. He is now calling for reuniting the Somali people one more time in a union that is based on democratic principles and justice for all, Northern Unionists may finally have an umbrella that unites their ranks to counter the efforts of the separatists to divide Somalia.

It is apparent that after thirty years of wasted opportunities, Somalis cannot continue to maintain the status quo and to keep practicing an archaic system that destroyed their country and institutions. This will perpetuate their suffering and limit their potential to exploit the vast resources God had bestowed upon them in the form of the second longest coastline in Africa which harbors untold reserves of oil and other resources. Business as usual will lock Somalia into a never-ending cycle of violence and will always produce corrupt and inept symbolic leaders whose authority will not transcend the capital Mogadishu and rely on foreign help for survival. Such an option will lead to millions of Somalis that lack the most basic public services and thus suffer from abject poverty, recurring droughts and famine, and clan-conflicts caused by meager resources.

To survive in this world that is destined to suffer from dangerous shocks such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, Somalis have no other choice but to shun the clan-based system and elect visionary and honest leaders in free and fair elections: leaders like Mandela and Paul Kagame who took bold and visionary actions and managed to unite ethnically diverse countries that suffered from long periods of bloodshed and conflict. The current government is supposed to hold such elections before its term expires in 2021. Let us hope that the Federal government takes this seriously and holds credible elections in all regions of the country. They have less than one year to get their act together and register voters in  all Somali regions . Some of these regions openly defy and challenge its authority openly. Reconciliation and a reliable voter registration system are key to the success of such a huge and complex project.  Serious negotiations among the various stake holders including the Federal government, the  disgrunled Federal States such as Puntland, the separatist minded  Somaliland , and the other northern regions that oppose Somaliland separation.

Let us hope that reason will prevail and the current leaders will rise up to the occasion.

A free and fair election for the whole of Somalia depends on reconciliation and serious negotiations that can foster win-win outcomes for all Somalis.

Ali H. Abdulla
Email:[email protected]

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* Jaahiliya : Age of Ignorance before Islam


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