This book consists of nine authored papers and seven testimonies, all but one by Somali women. Four of the testimonies were tape — recorded in English and transcribed; three were given verbally in English and then submitted as written testimonies in Somali, and then translated. Edited versions of the testimonies were checked by their authors. […]

In Somali culture all children are considered a blessing from God. However, it is a patriarchal society and greater symbolic value is placed on a male than a female child. Generally, the birth of a boy child is celebrated with the slaughter of two animals, while for a girl only one is slaughtered, if any. […]

Somalia is often misrepresented as a country with a homogeneous population, culture and language. Its total population in 2001 was estimated to be 6.3 million. (UNDP 2001) The vast majority are ethnic Somalis (of Hamitic origin) which comprise two distinct groups associated with one of two livelihood systems: nomadic pas — toralists, who are the […]

The formation of the Transitional National Government (TNG) in August 2000 was the most significant development in the politics of Somalia for a decade. The TNG was the outcome of a lengthy process of public dialogue and negotiation that placed more emphasis on civil society involvement rather than factional representation. In contrast to other Somali […]

On 23 July 1998 the political and traditional leaders of Somalia’s north eastern regions declared the autonomous Puntland State of Somalia under the presidency of former SSDF chairman, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf. A nine-member cabinet was appointed and a 69-member parliament, including five seats reserved for women. According to its founding charter Puntland is a first […]

The formation of the Republic of Somaliland, May 1991 The Act of Union which had united former Italian and British territories in 1960 into the Republic of Somalia was broken in May 1991 when the people of the north west regions of Somalia announced the secession of the Republic of Somaliland, a territory demarcated by […]

Siad Barre’s downfall did not bring an end to injustice and misery for the people in Somalia. The loose coalition of forces that had defeated the dictator disintegrated with the sudden collapse of government institutions. The country fragmented into areas controlled by warlords and their heavily armed clan-based militias. The USC split into two power […]

Somalia’s civil war of 1978-91 has commonly been analysed as a conflict between competing clan-based groups. Identity-based conflicts are not unique to Somalia. A tendency to interpret the war in clan terms emerges in several of the testimonies in this book, in which women describe how life or death could hinge on a person’s claims […]

The Somali state was created by the partition of the Horn of Africa by Britain, Italy and France, and the Abyssinian empire, during the scramble for Africa in the nineteenth century. Formed by colonial treaties, Somalia’s borders today bear no resemblance to the distribu­tion of the ethnic Somali people who, as well as predominating in […]

Judith Gardner and Judy El Bushra Why were you born? Why did you arrive at dusk? In your place a boy Would have been welcome Sweet dates would have Been my reward. The clan would be rejoicing A lamb would have Been slaughtered For the occasion, And I would have Been glorified.1 Somalia grabbed international […]