Struggling for Peace in Somalia

(the Ogaden region under Ethiopian rule,the Cte franaise des Somalis under Frenchrule, and the Northern Frontier District,which went from British to Kenyan rule)would also become part of the new state.But the dream was never to come true.

Worse still, 43 years later, the territory of theformer Republic of Somalia is split intothree main areas. In the northwest, Somali-land proclaimed its independence in 1991; in the northeast, Puntland declared itself anautonomous region in 1998. The rest of thecountry is divided into fiefdoms whose con-trol varies with the fate of local militia, war-lords, or clan politics.

At this writing in February 2003, while thesixteenth international peace conference isbeing held in Kenya, no overall settlementhas yet been reached. Everyone is at a loss to explain why the crisis has lasted so long.

Independence, like everywhere else in Africa,had brought great hope. It was particularlyfelt at the time, by Somalis and Europeansalike, that there was something unique in the birth of this new nation state. The rea-son was that the new country was made upof what was considered a very homogeneousgroup of people. The Somalis were seenessentially as a nomadic people who sharedone language (Somali), one culture, and one religion (Islam) but had been dividedthrough the vicissitudes of colonization.Homogeneity as the basis for national cohe-sion was believed to be a recipe for guaran-teed success.

Mennonite Central CommitteePeace Office PublicationAprilJune 2003Volume 33, Number 2

Struggling for Peace in Somalia

For the average American, the name ofSomalia is tied to the image that wasflashed across the world in 1993, of tri-umphant Somali youth dragging the corpsesof American soldiers in the dusty streets ofMogadishu. The recent movie Black HawkDown has expanded on that image and inthe wake of September 11, the word terror-ist has been added to the already marredview of Somalis. Yet, for some Mennonites,those images are not the ones that come tomind when they think of Somalis.

Unknown to the Mennonite community atlarge and certainly the international media,Somalis and Mennonites started a relation-ship 50 years ago that has endured untiltoday. It is for this reason that a Mennonitepresence in the area continues to be possibleand fruitful in the midst of very complexand difficult circumstances.

Independence and Hope

Fifty years ago, when the first Mennonitefamily arrived, the Somalis were eagerlywaiting for their independence. The south-ern part of the country, a former Italiancolony, was under the trusteeship of theUnited Nations. The northern part was stillunder British rule. In 1960, the two regionsbecame independent and then joined to forma new state, the Republic of Somalia.

But for the instigators of independence, this was only a beginning. The goal was that other territories where Somali lived

Somalia, Somalia: What Has Happened to the Beloved Country?by Chantal Logan

IN THIS ISSUE5 Making Peace in the

Traditional Somali Way,by Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa

8 Trying to Convince Men and Women to Make Peace,by Fatima Jibrell with ChantalLogan

10 Mennonites and MuslimSomalis, by Bertha Beachy

continued on page 2

Unknown to the Mennonite community at large and certainly the international media,Somalis and Mennonitesstarted a relationship 50 years ago that hasendured until today.

Still, the builders of the modern Somali statewere aware that to the nomad in the bush,the concept of national identity was new andforeign. His identity was founded in the clanhe belonged to: it was by reciting his geneal-ogy that he learned at an early age who were his kin and where his loyalty lay, notby virtue of a written piece of paper, be itpassport or identity card. So the leaders ofindependence used what was at their reachto build a sense of unity among their people.In a culture where the spoken word holdsgreat power, they composed patrioticpoetry to get their message across.

Throughout the history of the Republic ofSomalia, many attempts were made to createa sense of oneness among the members ofthe nation. The most formidable one hap-pened in 1969 after a military coup that put Mohamed Siad Barre in power. The newleaders hailed the change as a revolution,and adopted scientific socialism as their ideology.

The Somali language was written down andgradually adopted as the medium to teach inthe schools, replacing English, Italian, andsometimes Arabic. The schools were nation-alized, including the ones run by EasternMennonite Missions (EMM), and a commoncurriculum was adopted. To defeat tribalism,people were forbidden to identify themselves through their clan affiliations. In 1977, the country waged war againstEthiopia as another attempt to cementnational unity. But the defeat in 1978 startedto undo the painstaking work of building anational identity.

As the opposition mounted, the regimebecame more repressive and turned into adictatorship. As he felt threatened, SiadBarre started using tribal politics to stay inpower and the opposition to the governmentbecame more entangled in tribal issues.When he was overthrown in January 1991,the opposition split and no one groupbecame strong enough to assert its controlover the country.

Clans Provide Structure

After all the government institutions col-lapsed, people did not know where to turnfor protection and survival; the clan as aclosely knit group of family units became theonly safety net in a chaotic situation. It wasnot that the people had not acquired a senseof belonging to one country, it was thatthere was no country left to belong to.

The demise of the Somali state cannot beunderstood without taking into account thegeneral wave of looting that occurred at theonset of the civil war. Like many of its coun-terparts on the African continent, Somaliahad adopted a model of state borrowedfrom the European countries. Called some-times ltat Providence, the state was seen asthe Great Provider for the people, and con-sequently the source of income and wealth.The idea of ltat Providence led in Africa to the subtle and dangerous implication thatthe president of the nation was lHommeProvidence, provider and father figure whoowned the wealth of the nation and there-fore had the right to distribute it among hisprotgs, be they clan members or politicalallies.

Siad Barre, like others elsewhere, followedthat practice. So when he was taken out ofpower, the people went on a general spree of looting in the capital city of Mogadishu,stripping clean every government office,from the central bank to the schools. Thepeople took away what they perceivedbelonged to the president and his clan (whohad previously become rich at the expense of the Somali people and took many govern-ment resources as they left power) to claim itnow as their own. But what made that loot-ing so destructive is that the military arse-nals were also looted. Somalia, being on the side of the Soviet Union first and then of the United States later in the cold war,had received huge amount of arms. Almostovernight, every young man found himselfwith a gun in his hands terrorizing the popu-lation regardless of clan affiliation. The fig-ure of the mooreyan (the Somali word forthe young, armed criminals) appeared andhas stayed ever since. Uneducated, promptto anger, a mercenary par excellence, hehires himself to the highest bidder and formsthe backbone of the warlord militia. Withthe guns in the street and in the absence oflaw enforcement, the power came to be inthe hands of the man with the most gunpower.

Although clan affiliation is seen only as adivisive factor, it also has mechanisms formaking peace and imparting justice. Whenthere is a conflict, clan elders are called uponto reconcile the warring parties, but the pro-liferation of arms displaced the power fromthe traditional elders to the famous or infa-mous warlords.

When the international community tried to broker peace among the warring parties,they dealt with the men with the guns but

The Bantu Somalis:The First Victims of WarIn 2002 the U.S. governmentannounced that it would resettle a few thousand Bantu Somalisbecause of their status as anoppressed minority in Somalia.

The Bantu Somali do not fit intoany neat category. They bear differ-ent clan names, which vary fromone region to the other. Most ofthem live along the rivers and arefarmers. Some anthropologists con-sider them the original settlers ofSomalia.

But in the south, many of them aredescendants of former slaves, sincemany Somalis were slave owners. In the second half of the nineteenthcentury and the beginning of thetwentieth century, these slavesfound their way to the south, havingescaped or bought their freedom.

The slaves were not of Somali ori-gin, since Islam teaches that youcannot take another Muslim intoslavery. They came from neighboringcountries. For this reason someBantu Somali have different fea-tures. The Somali people speak ofthem having hard hair (jareer) andshort fingers (fara gaab) versusthe Somali, who have soft hair(jileec) and long fingers (faradheer). The term Bantu Somaliis now widely used, though someSomali intellectuals object to its usebecause of its racial overtones.

The Bantu Somali are known to bea peaceful people who do not fight.As farmers, they are often the vic-tims of the pastoralist (nomadic)groups, especially in the dry seasonwhen the pastoralists drive cattle ontheir plots of land and destroy theircrops. Because of their vulnerability,they are often in a vassal relation-ship with the more powerful Somaliclans, which sometimes give theBantu Somali weapons so theycan fight along with them.

2 MCC Peace Office Newsletter / AprilJune 2003

without much success. In 1992, famineswept the country and the U.S. army wenton a humanitarian mission under a UnitedNations mandate to help with food distribu-tion: it tried to overpower the guns on theground with a greater military force. But it ended in the tragic way that everybodyknows about (though most North Ameri-cans probably dont know that the Somalideath toll from the Black Hawk down rescue operation was between five and tenthousand!), and the U.N. mission foldedsoon after.

For a while, Somalia ceased to make theheadline news. It regained some coverage in2000, when at the initiative of the presidentof Djibouti a peace conference was organ-ized, which sidelined the warlords and calledon the civil society to participate. It was held in Somali fashion with longdebates and search for consensus.

When after almost a year a transitional gov-ernment was elected, it was received withgreat enthusiasm from the people. Unfortu-nately it failed to assert its authority in thecapital Mogadishu and soon lost the trust ofthe people. The reasons given for that failureare multiple: lack of backing from the West-ern nations concerned about perceived tiesbetween the transitional government andMuslim fundamentalist groups, corruptionamong members of the government, theprinting of fake Somali currency, and even,according to some, exclusion of the warlordsfrom the process.

Now, in the background of the latestattempt at brokering peace, the new super-power agenda is the war on terrorism.Although this attempt is taken at the initia-tive of Inter-Governmental Authority onDevelopment, a regional organization, the

MCC Peace Office Newsletter / AprilJune 2003 3

The Bantu Somalis:The First Victims of War(continued)Of late, MCC has sponsored reconcil-iation talks between groups ofBantu Somali who had been atwar because of killing that hadoccurred when they sided with dif-ferent clans. The worst tragediesoccur when the clan they helped isdefeated; they are then left helplessagainst the reprisals of the victori-ous clan.

During the early years of the civilwar, as the troops of the former gov-ernment fought with the opposition,the Bantu Somali suffered terriblelosses: their farms were destroyed,their women were raped, and alltheir seeds stored for planting dur-ing the next season were taken.

Since then, they have been able tosurvive and live in relative peace. Yetin a country where there is no law or order, anybody can taketheir land, abuse them, and even killthem without ever being challenged.In spite of those difficulties, somefeel that it is better to die in onesown country than live as a refugee.MCC has helped many BantuSomalis to go back home. So farthe ones who have gone back areliving in peace and are happy to beback.

The U.S. decision to resettle a largegroup was received at first withgreat jubilation, but disappointmenthas set in as the process is lengthyand the situation at the refugeecamp (with limited food) is very dif-ficult. Many of the Bantu Somalirefugees still see resettling in theUnited States as an opportunity tobe educated and have a better wayof life, but they are committed not toforget their country and the peopleleft behind. Once in the UnitedStates, they will discover that dis-crimination does not happen just inSomalia.

Chantal Logan

initiative comes from the fear that a coun-try without a central government can be ahaven for terrorists.

Standing by the Somali People

Faced with a country in disarray, both EMMand MCC looked for ways to stand by theSomalis in this time of crisis. Because oftheir long history in the area, they had intheir hands a tool that most other organiza-tions did not have: longstanding relation-ships. In a situation where there is no morelegal structure and therefore no more recog-nizable legitimacy from a Western point ofview, the question of who you should dealwith becomes paramount.

On the issue of peace, in partnership withthe Swedish organization, Life and PeaceInstitute, the Mennonites in the early 1990swere pioneers in encouraging the participa-tion of elders and other members of the civilsociety at peace conferences. Recognizingthe power of women as peacemakers, MCCand EMM also supported the training ofwomen in conflict resolution and their par-ticipation in the peace process. It advocatedfor a bottom-up approach, encouragingregional conferences organized by the Soma-lis themselves. Since an overall settlement inthe south is not yet in place, the EMM/MCCoffice in Nairobi continues to support meet-ings of elders to resolve conflicts betweensmall groups in the absence of a localadministration.

In the area of relief, MCC very early part-nered with Somali groups to implement programs on the field rather than doing itthemselves. That choice helped avoid manyof the pitfalls of relief and developmentwork in Somalia. In a country where there is no police force, half of the people hired by the international organizations are armedsecurity guards.

In the main cities whose control is under dif-ferent clans, the location of an office largelydetermines which group will benefit themost from the presence of the organization.Kidnapping of expatriates or robberies offacilities often happen when a group feels ithas been left out by the international organi-zation in the hiring or distribution process.But trustworthy Somali organizations, runby people who live on the ground, can oper-ate without creating major disturbance inthe area.

Relations of trust go a long way: fromcounting on your partner to care for you on a visit to seconding short-term volunteersto a local Somali institution. By focusing onrelationships rather than programs, it is pos-sible to make a difference in very uncertaintimes.

The Future

The question we ask, then, is: What doestomorrow hold for Somalia? The Somalitragedy defies the theories that see the rootsof conflict in ethnic and religious differences.Why could a common ancestry, a commonlanguage, and a common religion not hold a nation together? And since they did not,around what can Somalia rebuild its sense of nationhood? Now that there is no moreindependence to fight for, which commonvision can inspire the rebirth of a Somalistate?

While the Somalis are struggling to findanswers, we walk alongside them, workingand dreaming of a better tomorrow. Butmany of the Somalis appreciate that we domore than just dream and work: it mattersto them that we also pray.

Being Muslims, many Somalis say that peacewill come when God wills it. This we alsobelieve, but we trust besides that Godsblessing is on the peacemakers who helpmake it happen and hold on to the promisethat the meek shall inherit the earth.

Chantal Logan is codirector of the MCCand Eastern Mennonite Missions programs in Somalia, based in Nairobi.

The following poem addresses the armed militias and draws theirattention to the reality of the disputeamong thema dispute that doesnot serve any purpose, but only addsto the suffering of the already war-weary returnees, who were keen on only one thingrebuilding theirlives.

Shatter not, my newly mended heartForce me not to the refugee lifeWhere cold, hunger and misery

resideFor I have just tasted the comfort

of homeKill not the surviving heroes,Who miraculously escaped deathCrush not the handicapped ones,For they have barely recovered,Young man with the gun,Whom are you shooting? Me?For, there is no enemy in sight.Have you ever seriously wondered?What became of our brave fighters?Whatever happened to all our

buildings?

From Amina Mohamoud Warsame,Queens without Crowns: Soma-liland Womens Changing Rolesand Peace Building (Stockholm:Life and Peace Institute, 2002),pp. 4247. Used by permission.


While the Somalis are strug-gling to find answers, wewalk alongside them, work-ing and dreaming of a bettertomorrow. But many of theSomalis appreciate that wedo more than just dream andwork: it matters to them thatwe also pray.

The fundamentals of the Somali peacemak-ing process are based on the traditionalwisdom of the Somali people, and are safe-guarded by people with good intentions, likethe traditional and religious leaders and cre-ative poets and artists.

Parents bring up their children by tellingthem stories about the importance of apeaceful life. On the other hand, they warnthem about the negative effects wars wouldhave on their lives. However, it seems thatnowadays there is some sort of disconnec-tion from traditional ways of life, and as aresult, the role of the guardian of culturalvalues has been marginalized lately. How-ever, the morning prayers of the old folks arestill the same: Allah bless us with peace andplenty of milk, and protect us from wars andfamine.

According to the Somali cultural way of life,peace and milk are among the most preciousitems that symbolize a good life. Peace bringsprosperity and tranquility. But on the con-trary, wars and famine are viewed as signs ofdestruction and death.

The Somali way of peacemaking is dividedinto three stages: (1) conflict prevention, (2)conflict resolution, and (3) peacebuilding.

Conflict Prevention

There is a Somali proverb that says, If you hear trouble taking place in a farawaydistance, no matter how far, it will soon beat your feet. The hidden wisdom of theproverb is that we are living in a global vil-lage, and therefore problems happening else-where in the world are likely to affect us inone way or another.

And that is why traditionally Somalis firstsought to gather all the relevant informationavailable in the surrounding areas, to assessthe security situation before the outbreak ofany eventual hostility. After all the necessarydata regarding the security situation on theground was obtained, then the local clanelders convened a security meeting. In suchmeetings the focus was mainly put ondefense preparations, deciding whether tochange location, and sending a delegation to the area of the conflict.

Another reason for taking these preventiveprecautions was to avoid revenge-takingafterwards. As the following story will illus-trate, clan elders always sought first to rec-oncile the warring parties.

Two Men Killed in the Bay Region

Two men, both called Hassan, from one ofthe clans living in the bay region of Somaliawere killed by men of another clan. The clanof the men who killed the two men did notsend a word of apology or condolence to thefamily of the deceased men, as is the usualand expected behavior.

So the young men of the clan that lost thetwo men were angry and prepared to takerevenge for their kinsmen, as expected ofthem according to their tradition. But themalaaq (chief) of their clan and the otherelders strongly resisted any move towardrevenge. Instead, the malaaq and his menopted rather for an attitude of waiting andseeing how the other party would react.They waited and waited but it was all invain.

Then one day the malaaq called a meeting of elders and said to them, I suggest wetake some gifts to that clan which killed our two Hassans. At the beginning his ideawas totally rejected by the rest of the elders.

Those who strongly opposed his proposalbegan their argument by saying such a movewas against all existing traditional normsand values and would be viewed as weak-ness on their part. After a long and heateddialogue among the elders, they finallyagreed, as the malaaq had proposed, to senda delegation led by the malaaq himself, car-rying gifts to the other clan in order to makepeace between the two clans.

After the arrival at their destination, theleader of the delegation spoke by saying,Gentlemen, even though you have killedtwo Hassans from us, and up to now youdid not even apologize to us, we havedecided to come to you and this gift is atoken to prevent other Hassans, now living,from being killed. We have taken this movewith good intentions, with the sole aim ofreconciling our hostile communities. And wehope you will not take it in a sinister way.


The peace poems women composed. . . were intended to raise the con-sciousness of the masses to theimportance of peaceful co-existencebetween the different clans. One of the most famous peace poems,composed by Saado Abdi Amare,moved many people when it wasfirst recited by the composer in1994. The following lines areexcerpts from that poem . . . :

O, Deeqa, I am truly at a lossOf the real intentions of this war.Unlike unrelated people who can

drift apart.My own people are fighting one

another,Neighbours are fierce at each

others throat,My plight has no matchOn both hands have my clothes

caught fire [an expression usedwhen one is related to both warring parties]

Knowing nothing of swimmingWas I taken away by a currentFrom the bitter daar treeAnd of fatal poison had I my fillWhy do people from this bankDespise people on the otherWhy must weary orphans flee

again?Must grieving mothers suffer

afresh?Out of desperation, rejected IHargeysa and my own peopleOnly to flee hastily from newly

visited Berbera.Deeqa, I am totally at a loss.

From Amina Mohamoud Warsame,Queens without Crowns: Soma-liland Womens Changing Rolesand Peace Building (Stockholm:Life and Peace Institute, 2002),pp. 4247. Used by permission.continued on page 6

There is a Somali proverbthat says, If you hear trou-ble taking place in a farawaydistance, no matter how far,it will soon be at your feet.

Making Peace in the Traditional Somali Wayby Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa

The elders of the receiving clan appreciatedthe move taken by the malaaqs clansmen.They apologized to the visiting delegates and promised to pay, on the spot, the bloodprice of the two Hassans. The elders of thetwo clans agreed to cease all kinds of hostili-ties and made a peace accord.

Conflict Resolution

Somali people believe conflict is a part ofeveryday life. To support this assumptionthere is a Somali proverb that says, Theteeth and the tongue are close neighbors,and yet they sometimes bite each other.

According to the traditional Somali way of conflict resolution, the elders summon the opposing parties to a meeting under thecourt tree, which is known as a place ofmediation. According to customary law, allthe concerned parties are required to bepresent before the presiding jury of elders atthe agreed place and day. If any case is con-sidered to be very serious by the presidingjury of elders, normally they would inviteother mediators to assist them.

Traditionally, mediators were required toprove themselves to possess beyond anydoubt the following qualities:

1. Patience, in every aspect of life (in theface of hunger, thirst, physical abuse, mis-treatment, and so on)

2. Ability to speak in a pleasant way, like a gentleman

3. Ability to listen and observe well

Before proceeding to the court tree, eachparty meets separately under a meeting treeto discuss among themselves and formulatea position. Each party also selects capableand authorized persons to represent its casebefore the jury of elders (or mediating eld-ers).

The proceedings at the court tree go forwardbased on traditional rules with the goal ofbuilding a consensus for peace that is satis-factory to all concerned parties. The proce-dures are based on the kinds of issues thatare to be addressed and how many negotiat-ing groups there are. The following roles aredefined:

1. Chairperson (usually the senior oneamong the jury of elders)

2. Communicator (summarizes the essenceof the views expressed by the opposingparties)

3. Religious groups (observe and advisebased on principles of Islam)

4. Verbal note taker (assists the mediatingdelegates by repeating what was said earlier)

5. Spokesperson (announces the decisionand persuades the parties to accept it)

The accused party is expected as a token ofgoodwill, after the matter is settled, to offera ewe sheep as a sign to heal the injured par-ties wounds, which were caused by theirclansmen. The sheep itself or something ofequivalent market value is acceptable in suchsituations.

The practice of calling in Somali, Sabeenxir! (Tether of the ewe sheep, or I giveyou this ewe sheep as an apology) signifiesrespect, admission of ones shortcomings,seeking to restore community relations thatwere broken, and cementing friendshipanew. On the other hand, after accepting theewe sheep, according to Somali customarylaw, the receiving party normally returnshalf of whatever was given as payment.Then both parties exchange warm words of appreciation and willingness to establishnew, friendly community cooperation.

The tether of the ewe sheep can be either amessage of apology or a live animal, offeredto calm the injured party.

Farah Suusle, Peacemaker

Elders mediating two warring clans metunder the court tree and started discussinghow best to end the hostilities among theseclans. As they continued in their discussions,some of the delegates from one of the war-ring clans took a very uncompromising posi-tion, and the going seemed to be getting verytough.

So at that moment Farah Suusle, a brave andpeace-loving mediating elder from one of thewarring clans, stood up and requested thatthe mediators ask the gentleman who hadtaken the uncompromising position: Whatare your conditions for peace?

The man said, I demand that your clancome here before my clan, carrying shoes intheir mouths [an extreme humiliation] andcrawling on the ground. Only then will Iconsider accepting a peace deal with yourclan.

Farah Suusle stood up immediately, as soonas the man had finished speaking, took hisshoes off his feet, put them into his mouth,and started crawling on the ground towardthe man who had made that demand.


Childrens VoicesBelow is a song (translated fromSomali) that was sung by a five-year-old girl to a group of men dur-ing the Badhan peace intervention(see p. 8). The song moved some ofthe men to tears.

Plastic bags come in handyAt times like thesePlastic bags are lightLet my mother have one

She needs to stuff our propertyAll that is important to carryIt is time to runBefore we get caught up in the fight

My mother owns only one backTo carry me, my old grandma,Hawa, Halima, and little YusufI hope I can run fasterSo as to give little Yusuf andGrandma a chanceTo ride on my mothers back

The plastic bag is heavyIt contains kibis, water, and

mugmadI hope Mummy can affordTo buy survival itemsIts as expensiveAs the heavy load on her back

Will Mummy manage?Oh, what a burden she has to carryDuring these times of war

Then one day the malaaqcalled a meeting of eldersand said to them, I suggestwe take some gifts to thatclan which killed our twoHassans.

And the war and all hostilities between thesetwo clans ended, simply by the humble andpeace-loving actions of Farah Suusle.

Peacebuilding

The Somali peacebuilding process reflectstraditional methodology. According to therules of war engagement, certain categoriesof people are not to be attacked: children,women, religious people, elders, peace mediators, prisoners of war, in-laws, andtravelers.

Since Somali communities move about veryfrequently, from one place to the next, it tra-ditionally was not allowed to harm travelerson the way by terrorism or highway robbery.In fact, travelers were viewed as messengersbringing news from faraway places, andtherefore were considered as sources of valu-able information.

Women delegates were accorded with specialconsiderations, as we will find in the follow-ing story.

One time in the past, many camels werelooted from members of a clan in the Hiranregion. The clansmen of the camel ownersdecided to send a group of women delegates,led by a woman who was by birth related tothe men who took away their camels, butwas married to, and had some children with,one of the men whose camels were looted.After the women negotiators had reachedtheir destination, the leader demanded thather clansmen return the camels they hadtaken out of her flock. After several days of heated discussions between the men wholooted the camels and their elders, theyfinally agreed to hand over to her all thecamels of her husband.

After she got her own camels, she said to the elders of her clansmen, Gentlemen,what about the camels of these women whoare here with me now? I tell you, it will be a very shameful act on your part if you sendthese women back empty-handed. Please,give them back to their camels as well, so we can all go back to our families with joy.

At last all the camels were handed over tothe women delegates.

A delegation of elders accompanied the con-voy of the women and camels back to theirhomes safely. Then all the elders from bothclans met and made a peace agreement.

Conclusion

In the past the Somali way of making peacewas generally based on collective decision-making and transparency, and was spear-headed by skillful and honest people, whowere well acquainted with the basic needsand concerns of the people. These men weregenerally guided by the principle of peace-building as outlined above.

Most of the conflicts in the past were con-fined to limited areas, and between a smallnumber of clans, with no political agendabehind the conflicts.

We are seeing widespread anarchy and law-lessness in some parts of the country. Butthere are still some places within the countrywhere the traditional way of peacemaking isbearing fruitful results. Good examples areSomaliland, Puntland, and some parts ofsouthern Somalia.

Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa is a nongovern-ment agency worker in Mogadishu, Somalia.


Gentlemen, what about the camels of these womenwho are here with me now? I tell you, it will be a veryshameful act on your part ifyou send these women backempty-handed.

Somali women have a special vocation forpeace. Since they often marry outside theirclan, they are used as natural intermediarieswhen there is interclan fighting. But sincethe civil war, women have done even more:they have become active peacemakersthrough the many organizations they havecreated all over Somalia.

Yet Somali women, like all other women inthe world, can be as much warmongers asany men: they can get caught up in the mad-ness of war, asking their men to avenge thedeath of their loved ones. In an interview at a Somali peace conference in February1997, I said:

Let us not pretend innocence. Women mustaccept their share of violating the Allah-givenrights of others. Since 1991, women have beenigniting fires that burn lives still. Women haveempowered and encouraged their husbands,their leaders, and their militia to victimize theirfellow countrymen. . . . Women cry, theygrieve, they remain wearybut do not learnthe lessona lesson that has cost them morethan they will ever know.

Working with women for peace, then, is amultifaceted work. If it indeed involves per-suading men to lay down their weapons, itcan entail convincing women of the impor-tance of peace but also helping them to real-ize that they have the power to intervenesuccessfully in the peaceful settling of dis-putes. This is what I, along with a group ofother committed women, discovered whenin May 2001 we intervened to try to deflecta conflict that had started to escalate in ourregion.

Violence in Sanaag

The problem started in Sanaag, a region thatis claimed by both the Puntland and Soma-liland administrations. Somaliland in 1991declared its independence, claiming as its borders the ones of the former Britishcolony. But within those borders lay tworegions, Sool and Sanaag, that have strongties with the people of the Puntland region.

Toward the end of May 2001, a referendumwas organized by Somaliland in order todetermine whether the Eastern Sanaag peo-

ple wanted Somaliland or Puntland as theirgoverning administration. The stakes werehigh for both administrations as the resultsof the referendum could bring recognitionby the international community of the legiti-macy of their claims, and possibly evenstatehood for Somaliland.

In an effort to gain votes and support, bothadministrations had used bribery and coer-cion to recruit youths to support them. Thetwo opposing administrations, taking advan-tage of the poverty and lack of opportunity,had formed stations of armed militia inevery village in the region. The context thenof that referendum was highly explosive.

The referendum went well in the regionswhere Somaliland administration wasaccepted but not in the contested region of Sanaag. Ballot boxes were delivered in a town called Hadaaftimo, the home of theWarsangeli clan community of Sultan. Thecommunity was divided into two violentlyopposing parties. The two parties disputedover the ballot boxes. Both parties had theirarmed militiamen who stayed in confronta-tion, which caused one man to be killed.

According to the Somali tradition, elders settle disputes. If a person commits murder,the murderer is supposed to be taken to thefamily that has lost a member. His familyreserves the right to kill him in revenge ordeliver him back to his family in exchangefor a hundred camels or morebased onhow, why, and who killedas the deadmans blood price. In the above-mentionedcase, the killer was a 14-year-old boy. Hewas released as the elders sought to consultfor three days, with the permission of theextended family of the deceased man.

Disregarding the elders consultation, threemen from the bereaved family shot the mainmediating elder, who was a leader of a peacemovement in the town of Badhan. This elderwas a cousin to the sultan, the traditionalleader of the whole Warsangeli clan.

The shooting of the elder devastated themultiple subclans, especially those close tothe bereaved. Civil war began and each sideprepared for war. In a period of two days,twenty-six people were killed; a five-year-oldgirl and three women were severely injured.

Trying to Convince Men and Women to Make Peaceby Fatima Jibrell with Chantal Logan

Somali WomenPeacemakersWomens direct involvement in all forms of conflict resolution andpeace building processes was mini-mal in the past. In the specific areaof conflict resolution, women had anindirect role to forge peace betweenconflicting parties. Sealing finalagreements between warring par-ties with the exchange of brides was one way of doing this. The logicbehind this strategy was the sowingof trust between the two warringclans because the exchange ofbrides was a gesture of good willand a genuine wish to let bygonesbe bygones and start a peacefulrelationship. . . .

Since exogamy was widely prac-ticed among the Somali people, thevery fact of a woman marrying intoanother clan was in itself a precau-tion against future disputes devel-oping into violent confrontations. It was much easier for the elders of the two clans who had alreadyforged an alliance through the mar-riage relationship (xidid) to reach an agreement when conflicts arose.Morever, in some cases, womenthemselves acted as peace envoysto their respective clans to break the ice. Sending a woman was saferduring the initial stages of resolvinga conflict when peace agreementshad not been reached, for womenbelonged to both clans either bymarriage or by birth.


Somali women have a spe-cial vocation for peace.Since they often marry out-side their clan, they are used as natural interme-diaries when there is interclan fighting.

The historically peaceful town turned into a battlefield. All the people in Badhan weredirectly or indirectly affected by the war.Some people panicked and fled to Hingalooland El-Buh, a drought-ridden region, whileothers moved to the city of Boosaaso.

Schools were closed and businesses shutdown. Everybody was afraid to go outside.As a result daily prayers in the mosqueswere no longer offered, women could notlook for food, and children were not let out-side to play. Overall, interclan hostilityintensified.

Preaching Peace

My organization, Horn Relief, intervened in the eastern Sanaag region and mobilizedelders with the support of the Warsangelidiaspora and those in Boosaaso. We offeredthem transportation and fuel to enable themto travel to Badhan for peace negotiations.

After a fortnight, the peace delegates managed to stop the killing and shooting.However, hostility amongst the subclans pre-vailed. There were enormous challenges tobe overcome. There was a counterattack bysome women who were being used by war-ring parties to deter the peace process. Someof the diaspora community created anotherobstacle as they sent funds to sustain thefighting, each to his own subclan.

Horn Relief preached peace by sending mes-sages and telephone conferences to diasporagroups. They carried out peace campaignsbehind the scenes through peace mediators.Various peace mediators were mandated tonegotiate for peace in different settings.These mediators faced challenges fromwomen and children supporting this or thatside of the war who took arms and usedstones to fight their enemies.

At this point, Horn Relief joined hands witha neutral group of women peace supporters.Many women active in the violence fromboth sides were met and counseled by theneutral women in Badhan. The neutralgroup met and worked with each womansgroup active in the violence and sharedinformation on who had violated cease-fires.

The neutral group identified and influencedpro-peace members from both violentgroups, however active they may have beenin the violence. This then created a dominoeffect in the rest of the community, wherepeople started turning to peace and solu-tions rather than revenge. Yet the battle wasnot won.

As usual, it is difficult to please everyone.Not everybody supported the peace media-tors. Some families, which had lost theirmembers, still wanted to avenge the killingof their loved ones. In Badhan, various dis-tant elders arrived and intervened with aneffort to create peace. Finally a cease-firewas adopted. However, on the onset ofRamadan (the Muslim month of fasting for the poor) the elders left. The questionremained: How could peace be sustained?

The Peace Network

The Womens Coalition for Peace (HornRelief, We Are Women Activists, and theGalkayo Education Center for Peace andDevelopment) went to work on peace issues.The group appointed members from fiveregions (Nugaal, Sanaag, Sool, Mudug, andBari) and prepared a peace education pack-age. This was made up of role-plays, peacemessages, poetry, and counseling sessions.

On January 11, 2002, thirty women fromPuntland traveled to Badhan. The groupconducted a five-day peace campaign inBadhan. They visited fighting factions, eachin their own camps. They also visited youthgroups and elders of the two opposing fac-tions. During these visits, they preachedpeace, nonviolence, and reconciliation; theyalso listened and learned.

They appealed to the religious sentiments of the people by quoting Quranic versesabout peace and brought their male audi-ences to tears by the poems they created,which described the hardships women andchildren endure during conflicts (see sidebaron p. 6, Childrens Voices). They also gavelessons on good governance, power sharing,and human rights. By combining a variety ofmethods that integrated tradition with novelpractices they were able to be effective.

Many people who had participated in thekilling felt remorseful and vowed to supportthe peace process. The Womens Coalitionfor Peace has yet to visit the militiamen; wehope this will be done during the secondphase. So far, the fighting has stopped andthere is peace.

Yet the women know that the battle forpeace is not won. What happened in Badhanillustrates the complexities of making peacein Somalia: in the absence of a legitimatestate, the issue of territoriality is subject toconstant dispute; the multiplicity of actorswho even include people of the diaspora


Somali WomenPeacemakers(continued)Womens role in conflict resolutionand peace building came to theforefront during the internal conflictswithin Somaliland that occurredafter the end of the civil war. . . .Although women did not participatedirectly in the negotiations andpeace conferences that took placethroughout the country, they never-theless, contributed a great deal to the exploitation of the prevailinganti-war sentiments. The main con-tributions of women towards thepeace building processes were:

They mobilised people for demon-stration against war

They composed emotion-chargedsongs and poems in support ofpeace

They chose envoys among them-selves and sent them to partici-pate in peace conferences withoutreceiving any formal invitationsfrom the organisers and madetouching speeches there

They made a lot of awareness raising on peace through theirorganisations

They persuaded their husbands to stop the fighting

They gave logistical support topeace conferences, such as con-tributing money and preparingfood for the delegates

And they submitted declarationsto warring parties

From Amina Mohamoud Warsame,Queens without Crowns: Soma-liland Womens Changing Rolesand Peace Building (Stockholm:Life and Peace Institute, 2002),pp. 4247. Used by permission.

obscures the process; and the lack of jobs ina war-torn country makes it easy to recruityoung men as militia.

Peace Lessons

In spite of all those difficulties, the womenare committed to keep on working forpeace. They learned many lessons from thisexperience. It has taught them that it takes a lot of patience to convince people thatrevenge is counterproductive. They learnedthat it takes a long time to reach the desiredgoal of peace.

It also has taught them that taking small

steps can go a long way and that individuals,especially children, readily embrace a pleafor peace when they understand how theycan benefit from it. But maybe the mostimportant lesson they have learned is thatthey have the power to influence the warringparties and can (and also should) contributeby their teachings to the creation of a culturefor peace.

The road to peace is long and hard but nowthat they have made the first steps, theyknow that they cannot stop.

Fatima Jibrell is director of Horn Relief, inBoosaaso, Puntland.

Into Somalia (19501959)

A camel caravan dipped in and out of sightin the Somali bush. The last camel carried a nomadic house. I blinked in disbeliefatransistor radio dangled from the frame!This dry land produced worldly politicians,fierce clan loyalties, and eloquent poets.

In 1950 this slice of East Africa caught theattention of Orie O. Miller, representingEastern Mennonite Mission (EMM). Afterdue investigation, the Wilbert Lind familyswung down onto a small flatboat on Janu-ary 16, 1953, near the capital city,Mogadishu. Thus began the first Mennonitemission relationship in Islamic Africa. TheSwedish Lutheran Mission (SLM) had comeand gone. The Catholics remained and theSudan Interior Mission (SIM) arrived in1954 and left in 1974.

Though these Somali-speaking people hadbeen divided at the 1884 Berlin conferenceamong the French, British, and Italians, theywere unique in Africa. They shared mainlyone language and one nomadic background,and they were nearly 100 percent Muslim.

Lind began listening as he traveled up anddown the land. English-language schoolsbecame the priority, along with some healthcare requests. Nurses and teachersthreecouples and three Pax menarrived in shortorder. As soon as permission was granted,

the building began in the north at Mahadday-weyne and later in the south in Jamaame. Aboarding school for boys, a day school, andtwo health clinics began functioning by theearly 1960s.

Trust began developing through these manycontacts.

Beginnings and Endings (19601969)

In 1960 the cry Somalia ha nolato!(Long live Somalia!) pulsed through theland.

Independence brought together two Somaliareas formerly ruled by Italian and Britishcolonialists. Three other Somali areasDjibouti (formerly French Somaliland), the Ethiopian province of Ogaden, and theKenyan Northeastern Provincewere notincluded. Fierce clan loyalties threatened thecountrys unity from the beginning. Nineyears later an assassins bullet killed the sec-ond president. The night after his burial abloodless coup took place. On October 21,1969, an army general, Mohamed SiadBarre, took charge and continued to moveSomalia toward the Soviet Union and scien-tific socialism.

In 1962 the mission opened a 25-bed hospi-tal with two years of nursing training inJamaame plus an intermediate school inJawhar. But rumors swirled around the mis-sion partially because they had connected

When Chantal Logan visited Somalipeace activist Fatima Jibrell in herhome while she was recoveringfrom an illness, Fatima announcedto a Somali friend, You know, theMennonites pray for us! She seesthis as a gift despite the differencein religious faith.

Bertha Beachy


Mennonites and Muslim Somalisby Bertha Beachy

Thirty women from Puntland . . . preachedpeace, nonviolence, and rec-onciliation; they also listenedand learned.

with former SIM seekers. Without warningall activities were closed down in March of1962. By July parents of our students man-aged to reopen the schools.

On July 16, 1962, Canadian missionaryMerlin Grove sat registering new students inMogadishu. Unknown to anyone, a religiousman had joined the line. With sixteen quickstrokes he killed Merlin and stabbed hiswife, though she survived. Within 24 hoursa very subdued few buried Merlin.

A constitutional change that year statedthere should be no proselytizing. The mis-sion did serious reflecting. The followingyear the government requested that all pri-vate schools teach Islam and Arabic; theywould provide the teachers and books.EMM agreed to allow this. SIM closed theirelementary schools.

The Eternal Memorial (19701979)

One felt the audible listening of Somalis asthe Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC)organized centers in each local community.Young scouts happily carried out the wishesof the SRC and taught scientific socialism.The EMM builder constructed a memorialfor the SRC at Jawhar. The SRC helped toopen the mission secondary school there.

On October 21, 1972, during the celebra-tion of the revolution, the SRC floatedleaflets from the sky. They had begun writing the Somali language with the Latinscript. Two years later hundreds of gradeschool and secondary students fromMogadishu fanned out across the land toteach their fellow Somalis the new way ofwriting. Many urban youth came backsporting Somali nomadic dress and hairdos.

We quickly noted that all private schools,clinics, hospitals, and printing presses werenationalized from this day on! This includedall but two of our projects. We had 35 expa-triate adults in Somalia. All EMM teachershad to be approved by the Ministry of Edu-cation (MOE). Those with Bible degreeswere promptly rejected. One by one, otherstaff had to leave until only ten teachersremained in responsible positions.

Eventually, the MOE wrote that they nolonger needed us. We sorted all our files,burned some, and shipped those thatremained to Nairobi on May 20, 1976. The seekers had chosen their own leader-ship and began meeting in the cathedral. By 1989, the bishop was assassinated andthe cathedral was bombed.

Refugees and Mennonites (19801989)

Siad Barre attacked the Ogaden but failed to wrest it from Ethiopia. Clans in northernSomalia objected to Barres actions and hebombed that area in 1980. Two years offamine followed by a flood created morethan a million and a half refugees. TheUnited Nations asked Mennonite CentralCommittee (MCC) to provide 12 volunteers,who came that same year. More than fivethousand tons of Mennonite corn for theHorn (of Africa) followed with money tohelp with the delivery into the camps. Manyof these Somalis came from a nomadiclifestyle. MCCers worked in agriculture,nutrition, development, and education. Butnine years later MCC left after a secondLand Cruiser was stolen at gunpoint.

MCCs International Conciliation Serviceworked with Ergada, a cross-clan group ofeducated Somalis living in North America,beginning in 1989.

Siad Barre became and more and more para-noid. He installed his own clan everywhereand imprisoned many other Somalis.

The Relationship Continues (1990pres-ent)

Clan-based militia caused the General to flee Somalia in 1991. The next leader heldpower briefly until clan warlords moved in.They provided guns and qat (a mildly nar-cotic plant) to camel herders in exchange forprotection, and life became very difficult inthe south. The north seceded in 1991 andcalled itself Somaliland, while Puntland fromthe northeast followed in 1998.

The Mennonites established an EMM/MCCoffice in Nairobi in 1991 to stay in contactwith Somalis. Two nurses seconded toanother organization went to Mogadishu1992. They were evacuated within monthsbecause it became too unsafe for foreigners.This was repeated in Jamaame in 1998 butthe work lasted only weeks.

Ergada sent a peacemaker in to work in1991. As he met with clan elders someonethrew a grenade into the house. He lost a legbut survived. It became very dangerous tolive outside ones clan area, or to work foran international organization, or to be non-Muslim. Some good friends died because ofone of these factors.

The Nairobi office often worked on peaceprojects with a Swedish group, Life andPeace Institute. In 1991 they supported afive-month traditional clan elders conference


Eastern MennoniteMissions 50 Years in SomaliaIn 2003 Eastern Mennonite Missionsis celebrating 50 years of ministry toSomalis, including collaboration withMennonite Central Committee onSomalia programs in recent years.

The celebration includes releasing a commemorative book (Omar Eby,Fifty Years, Fifty Stories: MennoniteMission in Somalia [Telford, Pa.:DreamSeeker Books; Scottdale, Pa.:Herald Press, 2003]) and holdingseveral gatherings and a special display. For information, contactJane Hooley at (717) 898-2251 [email protected].

The events scheduled after publi-cation of this newsletter include:

July 12, 2003EMM Global Fairincluding a display of Somali culturalitems. Lancaster Mennonite School,Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

August 2, 2003Somalia BiennialStudent/Teacher Reunion in Lan-caster, Pennsylvania.

October 2326, 2003Anabaptistconsultation on Islam: The ChurchMeeting the Ummah (Muslim Com-munity). Eastern Mennonite Univer-sity, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

in Boorama. Seven years later two Menno-nite teachers taught at Amoud University inBoorama for one semester.

Supporting Somali peace conferences andtraining became a priority with special attention to womens groups. Women marryacross clans and are deeply concerned aboutthe future of children. But more educationfor individuals, support of schools andlibraries, and some development projectsalso evolved. Everyone took a deep breath of hope when the neighboring countries supported a peace conference in Djibouti. Atransitional government took over in 2000but for many reasons could not even controlMogadishu. At this writing the sixteenthpeace conference for Somalis is meeting inNairobi, having moved there from Eldoret,Kenya.

In 1991, missionary teachers visiting Canadamet with former Somali students. They continue to meet every other year in Penn-sylvania or Canada. Somalis across NorthAmerica join the group around wonderfulSomali food, slides, and remembrances thatmay evoke a Somali poem.

Another series of meetings had begun evenearlier, in 1979 in Pennsylvania, and contin-ues there today. Each month former Men-nonite missionaries meet to pray for Somaliswe know and love. Our urgent prayer todayis for peace for Somali people everywhere.Computers and e-mail facilitate the sharingof information and concerns. Perhaps ourprayers are our greatest gift.

No Mennonites live in Mogadishu now(though the EMM/MCC representative visitsregularly). But Somalis have remained in ourhearts these 50 years.

Bertha Beachy taught English and manageda bookstore in Somalia. Later she helpedSomalis produce three literary primers andadministered the Somali desk for EMM andMCC in Nairobi.

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Struggling for Peace in Somalia

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