Amina M. Warsame is a specialist researcher and writer on Somali women and development. Originally trained as a teacher, she became the Head of the Women’s Documentation Unit of the Somali Academy of Arts and Culture and was responsible for supporting and undertaking some of the earliest research by Somali women on women’s position in […]

Some people from the regions of eastern Sanaag and Sool, which are contested by Somaliland and Puntland, have participated at the SNRP, believing that their future interests will be best served by a united Somalia rather than an independent Somaliland. The majority of people in Somaliland, however, support their government’s decision to stay away from […]

Judith Gardner Somalia At the time of writing, July 2003, Somalia’s faction leaders, individuals defined as ‘members of civil society’, and the Transitional National Government (TNG) formed at Arta in 2000, continue to struggle in pursuit of a way forward on the future governance of Somalia. They are doing so through the 14th internationally convened […]

It is too early to judge the impact of her work but a book about the war and women in Somalia would not be complete if it did not mention the late community activist and leader, Starlin Abdi Arush, of Merca, a town south of Mogadishu. Starlin was killed before we were able to invite […]

In 1991 when people returned to Hargeisa and other parts of Somaliland such as Burao, Gebiley, or Arabseyo, they found little left standing. This was particularly the case in Hargeisa where so many houses and building had been destroyed. The mass destruction of homesteads meant that many people found themselves homeless. Amidst the destruction, Hargeisa […]

Editors’ note In 1988 the population of Somalia’s north west region was estimated at between 1.78 and 2.05 million, excluding Ethiopian refugees who had been there since the 1978 Ogaden War: Following the massive aerial bombardment and destruction of Hargeisa and Burao by Siad Barre’s forces in May 1988, up to 1 million people had […]

The renascent women’s movement in Somalia and Somaliland is severely constrained by the lack of educated women in the country. There are few women who feel sufficiently confident about their skills and experience to stand for political positions, for example — not that inadequate skills and experience ever seems to prevent large numbers of men […]

Article 57 of the Somaliland Constitution, referring to the rights of women: • Women and men are equals as far as the rights, freedom and responsibilities outlined in the Somaliland Constitution are concerned. • The Government should promote the rights of women to be liberated from customs and traditions which are against the shari’a and […]

Through lobbying and training initiatives, women’s organisations also played an important role in the demobilisation campaign to disarm and rehabilitate former SNM fighters. At the end of the war, in 1991, many SNM fighters laid down their arms and returned to civilian life. Some stayed together as military units linked to their sub-clan group. Others […]

When the Puntland administration was established in 1998 five out of 66 seats in the House of Representatives were reserved for women. And, as in the case of the TNG, the seats were given to women who were hand-picked by men rather than the selected through consul­tation or voting by women or the wider community. […]