Editors’ note In May 1988 the SNM attacked and briefly captured Burao and Hargeisa, the two main towns in the north west. Siad Barre’s response was genocidal: days of aerial and ground bombardment of both towns by the Somali Armed Forces, backed up by South African mercenary pilots; the round-up and summary execution of hundreds […]

Between 1981 and 1988 many men and boys in north west Somalia left their families and homes to join the opposition or to live in the Gulf countries. Those who stayed behind were constantly under threat of arrest by Siad Barre’s forces on suspicion of being SNM supporters, so over time more and more men […]

The experience of women during the liberation struggle in north west Somalia, 1980-8820 Editors’ note Somalia came to the world’s attention in 1991 when the Siad Barre regime collapsed with the outbreak of war in Mogadishu but what is often overlooked is that civil war had been going on in Somalia since the end of […]

As a Somali woman it was clear to me that the recovery of women who had survived rape attacks depended on the reconstruction of their social and economic networks, that is, reconnecting them to their social environment and rebuilding their status in society. I believed that anything which the UNHCR could deliver to improve their […]

Because of the lack of trees inside the camp firewood collection had to take place outside the relative safety of the camp boundaries. Many daytime attacks on women took place as they were collecting wood. To reduce the risk of rape and attack women in the refugee camps organised themselves into groups, some members armed […]

A strong cultural stigma is attached to rape in Somalia, as elsewhere. Women who have been raped face not only physical and psycho­logical trauma but also the likelihood of rejection by their families. Although, in general, the social consequences of rape include rejection by husband, family and community, the outcome varies according to marital status […]

Somali society has two distinct terms for acts of sexual aggression: kufsi which is most closely analogous to the western term ‘rape’; and faro — xumeyn which may be translated as ‘sexual assault’.These terms are often interchangeable. Traditionally, Somalis define kufsi as penetrative sexual intercourse with a woman by an assailant using force, against her […]

Within traditional Somali society it is the duty of a woman’s family to protect her honour and status. In cases of sexual assault or abuse her family or clansmen are charged with seeking redress. The social ramifications of the assault, and thus the type and amount of com­pensation sought, vary according to the woman’s marital […]

In July 1992 nine shiftas with guns came into my house at night. They were wearing black trousers, black jackets and hats pulled low. I did not know them. They all had guns and big boots like soldiers. They pulled my arms behind my back and tied my hands. They told me not to scream […]

3. Hibaq, a 40-year-old woman, was raped by three unknown assailants in the middle of the night at Liboi camp in March 1993. She was sleeping in her hut with her three children aged 21, ten, and eight years old. [1] scarves around their heads. One of them had a gun. They dragged me out […]