During the socialist period of the Siad Barre era all but government — linked social organisations were banned. Change came in the early 1980s when international NGOs rushed to assist with the influx of refugees created by the 1977-78 Ogaden war, and to alleviate hardships arising from the World Bank-imposed structural adjustment programme. In their […]

Compiled from information provided by Shukri Hariirand Zeynab Mohamed Hassan with additional materialfrom documents by and interviews with Zakia Alin,Faiza Warsame, Amina M. Warsame and Maria Brons,and Sacda Abdi. Editors’ note ‘Whilst I myself felt helpless I realised there were others in greater need and I felt moved to help them.’1 This chapter is concerned […]

It is now more than 10 years since US marines landed on the beaches of Mogadishu in December 1992 to lead Operation Restore Hope but the ensuing events have gained new significance since the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. Some have suggested that Osama bin Laden, incensed by the US intervention, saw […]

My work in Mogadishu in 1989-90 involved me working with a local charitable organisation, Aadamiga (‘humanity’), which was helping displaced women from Somaliland [the north west region] and the central areas.9 The government’s attitude towards Aadamiga was hostile. Siad Barre did not want any non-governmental humanitarian initiatives in Somalia.10 Aadamiga’s director, my cousin, had been […]

Editors’ note The violent inter-clan warfare in southern Somalia convulsed the southern region into a state of anarchy; creating a man-made famine and causing the displacement of many thousands of people. Although the United Nations was slow to respond to the disaster in the country the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and non-governmental […]

1959 Somali Women’s Association established: its main focus was welfare. 1960 Somali Women’s Movement (SWM) established: radical but short-lived organisation set up by middle-class women with the aim of fighting for women’s social, political, cultural and economic rights. 1969 Siad Barre comes to power and bans all political parties and social organisations — ending the […]

Editors’ Introduction Sisters, you sold your jewellery Depriving yourselves, Enriching the struggle. Sisters, you stayed as one, United, even when your brothers Divided and deceived our nation. Sisters, you joined the fight — Remember the beautiful one, Hawa — stabbed through the heart. But, sisters, we were forgotten! We did not taste the fruits of […]

In July 1998 WPDC received a report that there was a conflict between the Degodia Fai clan and the Murrulle. The Fai clan had refused the Murrulle access to a water pan. On receiving this information the WPDC put together a rapid response team consisting of three elders, two women, and two government representatives, to […]

Somali society is modernising, with a small but growing minority of women receiving education and entering professional occupations. These women are increasingly being recognised as vital to current conflict resolution and peace-building. Wajir Women for Peace is an organisation that illustrates this trend. Between 1992 and 1998 a violent inter-clan conflict raged in Wajir District, […]

To date no systematic account of local conflict-resolution systems has been described in the literature concerning the Somali people. The roles of women in either promoting conflict or promoting peace have been even less documented. It is clear, however, that women did historically and do today play a role in promoting both war and peace. […]