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Somali president's ally shot dead in Mogadishu MOGADISHU, Oct 18 (AFP) - Gunmen shot and killed a close ally of Somali President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan on Wednesday in an area of south Mogadishu controlled by a warlord opposed to Salat's appointment, witnesses said. Yusuf Talan was killed at Kilometre 4 Junction in south Mogadishu, the fiefdom of warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid, one of the most vocal critics of the Djibouti-led reconcilation process that led to the formation of a transitional parliament and the nomination of a president and prime minister. Aidid had repeatedly warned that the Djibouti process would lead to more bloodshed. Witnesses said four young men opened fire with automatic weapons as Talan was leaving the Shafi hotel shortly before noon. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. Rumours had been circulating in Mogadishu for several days that an attack would be made on someone involved in the Djibouti process. Talan had been living in Canada for six years before going in May to Djibouti, where he played an active role in the reconciliation conference, persuading fellow members of his Gadabursi sub-clan not to walk out, and backing Salat's nomination as president. Talan travelled with Salat when the president returned to Mogadishu at the weekend. He was not chosen to sit in the transitional assembly but was widely expected to gain an important position in the government due to be formed shortly, perhaps in the defence ministry. Talan, a former brigadier-general in the army of ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, was a member of the Dir clan mainly found in the Awdal region of the breakaway northwestern region known as Somaliland, whose political leaders also reject the reconciliation process. Talan, however, was in favour of reintegrating Somaliland into Somalia proper. According to reports from MPs, Salat and Aidid met in secret here this week. Aidid's office has denied this. Salat is trying to establishing a central administration in the anarchic Horn of Africa country, which has lacked a government and has been riven by factional warfare since Barre fled in 1991. On October 11, five people were killed in Mogadishu when gunmen protecting a convoy of newly arrived members of parliament returned fire on an assaillant, who was thought to be among those killed. None of the MPs was hurt in the incident. Officials later said the attack was not politically motivated but the action of someone seeking work in fledgling national security forces. On his return to the Somali capital at the weekend, Salat declared that the age of the warlord was over. "The page of militias has been turned. ... The new Somali institutions draw their legitimacy from the gains of the Arta (Djibouti) conference and from the equitably represented Somali people who massively support the ongoing process," said the president. "They are determined to take Mogadishu from the hands of the militias," said Abourahman Badio, one of the delegates at the Arta conference. str-amu/afm/gd AFP Copyright (c) 2000 Agence France-Presse Received by NewsEdge Insight: 10/18/2000 10:00:12 ©AFP 2000: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse. The Cigaal Camp?

(Posted by guest: X-Large)

Somali festivities kill 60, may start war At least 60 people were reported killed and another 90 wounded in renewed fighting this week in the northwest part of Somalia’s Galgadud Region. Local sources in the regional capital, Dhusa-Mareb, told the U.N.’s Integrated Regional Information Networks the latest fighting was between the Darod subclan of the Marehan and the Dir subclan of Fiqi Muhumud, and was concentrated in and around the village of Herale, northwest of Dhusa-Mareb. Last month Herale, which is populated by the Fiqi Mahmud, was also the scene of serious fighting between the two sides which left over 50 people dead. According to sources from a neutral clan in the area, what started out as "revenge killings" had now flared up into a "fully-fledged land war". Sources told the IRIN the Marehan want the Fiqi Muhumud out of the area, and until one group gives up, the fighting will probably continue. Over 50 killed in central Somalia festivities Three days of heavy fighting in the northwest of Galgadud Region have left at least 50 people dead and over 150 wounded, local sources in the regional capital, Dusa-Mareb, told IRIN on Monday. The fighting broke out last week between the Darod subclan of the Marehan and the Dir subclan of Fiqi Muhumud, and was concentrated in and around the village of Herale, some 80 km northwest of Dusa-Mareb, said Nur Muallim Dhere of the Dir. Herale village is populated by the Dir. According to Abdinasir Hashi of the Marehan clan, the current clashes were triggered by revenge killings™ for the death in May last year of a prominent Marehan businessman. But the ensuing escalation of violence was also attributed to disagreements over water and grazing in the area, another source from a neutral clan told IRIN. "It is more about water and grazing land right now. Herale is close to a good pasture area and water points are very close," he said. "Each group is trying to dislodge the other." This particular clash between the two groups had been "exacerbated by the easy availability of heavy weapons and the terrain in which they are fighting", he added, noting that the area was flat, offering no cover from the battle-wagons (technicals) both sides were using. Nur told IRIN that his clan had lost 26 dead and over 65 wounded in the three days of fighting. Meanwhile, according to Abdinasir, the Marehan have lost about 40 dead and "over 70" wounded. The fighting has reportedly displaced hundreds of families, leaving them with no access to wells or water points, Nur said. He stressed the need for help, "but given the lack of roads and the current insecurity in the area, I doubt if anyone will come to our aid". Most of the displaced belong to the Dir, and have moved to safer areas like Dusa-Mareb, he said. Humanitarian sources in Dusa-Mareb told IRIN that if the fighting continued, "it could have serious humanitarian repercussions for the communities involved". "The biggest problem at the moment seems to be displacement and lack of shelter," the source said. Both sides claim to be ready for peace talks, but so far no mediation efforts are taking place. The fighting subsided over the weekend, but the sides admit that "it is just a matter of time before a new round of fighting begins again". "Both sides are regrouping and rearming," said Nur.

(Posted by guest: Ali Yare)

firt able i want make short comom since i have read what you guys bealive about us or marexan. It isnt bad to express your idea for any reason i think thats some of the thinking that we are missing in somalia today. however i am personly marexan guy and honestly i dont hate any other trip weather they are fighting againest marexan or not. i see thing this way which is missunderstading. other than that dir and marexan are not different. we all muslim brothers as naibohoirs, so it would better if you guys or who ever wrote this think that way, and just think about how we can live without problems together. asalaamu caleykum warax matulaahi wa barakaat

(Posted by guest: abdulkadir abdi)

Tuesday 28 October @ 08:11 http://www.fiqi.net/hof/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=559 Dagaal culus oo subaxnimadii maanta ka bilowday tuulada Xeraale oo ka tirsan degmada Cabuud Waaq ee gobolka Galgaduud ayaa sababay dhimashada dad tiradooda lagu qiyaasay 45 qofood, iyadoo ay ku dhaawacmeen tiro kale oo aan la sheegin. dagaalladaan oo u dhaxeeya labo beelood oo halkaasi wada degan ayaa ka bilowday barkad biyaha laga cabo, iyadoo ay ka qeyb qaateen baabuurta dagaalka oo ay ku jiraan kuwo gaashaaman Afhayeen u hadlay beesha Mareexaan oo ay soo xiganeysay idaacadda Jubba ee magaalada Kismaayo ayaa sheegay in ay gacanta ku dhigeen degmada Cabuud Waaq, balse dagaallo teel teel ah ay ka soconayaan daafaha degmadaas, haseyeeshee ma jiraan warar caddeynaya hadalka sheegashada ah ee ka soo yeeray af-hayeenkaas. Wararkii ugu dambeeyay ayaa sheegaya in culumaa’udiin iyo odayaal ka kala tirsan labada beelood ay ku baaqeen in ay labada dhinac joojiyaan xabadda oo ay wada hadal ku dhameystaan khilaafaadkooda. Ugaaska Beesha Sade Ugaas Maxamed Weli Axmed Nuur oo ka mid ah waxgaradkaas ayaa isaga oo ku sugan Buulo Xaawo waxaa uu labada dhinacba ugu baaqay in ay joojiyaan dagaallada iyaga oo ixtiraamaya bisha barakeysan ee Ramadaan oo ay muslimiintu sooman yihiin.

(Posted by guest: News from Fiqi muxu)

Isniin, October 26, 2003 Dagaal culus oo subaxnimadii maanta ka bilowday tuulada Xeraale oo ka tirsan degmada Cabuud Waaq ee gobolka Galgaduud ayaa sababay dhimashada dad tiradooda lagu qiyaasay 45 qofood, iyadoo ay ku dhaawacmeen tiro kale oo aan la sheegin. dagaalladaan oo u dhaxeeya labo beelood oo halkaasi wada degan ayaa ka bilowday barkad biyaha laga cabo, iyadoo ay ka qeyb qaateen baabuurta dagaalka oo ay ku jiraan kuwo gaashaaman Afhayeen u hadlay beesha Mareexaan oo ay soo xiganeysay idaacadda Jubba ee magaalada Kismaayo ayaa sheegay in ay gacanta ku dhigeen degmada Cabuud Waaq, balse dagaallo teel teel ah ay ka soconayaan daafaha degmadaas, haseyeeshee ma jiraan warar caddeynaya hadalka sheegashada ah ee ka soo yeeray af-hayeenkaas. Wararkii ugu dambeeyay ayaa sheegaya in culumaa’udiin iyo odayaal ka kala tirsan labada beelood ay ku baaqeen in ay labada dhinac joojiyaan xabadda oo ay wada hadal ku dhameystaan khilaafaadkooda. Ugaaska Beesha Sade Ugaas Maxamed Weli Axmed Nuur oo ka mid ah waxgaradkaas ayaa isaga oo ku sugan Buulo Xaawo waxaa uu labada dhinacba ugu baaqay in ay joojiyaan dagaallada iyaga oo ixtiraamaya bisha barakeysan ee Ramadaan oo ay muslimiintu sooman yihiin. Galgaduud ( AllPuntland )- Xaalada Guud ee degaanka Xeraale ayaa maanta ah mid xasiloon kadib markii shalay barqadii uu halkaasi ka dhacay dagaal la isku adeegsaday qoryaha darandooriga u dhaca, kaasoo sida la sheegay u dhaxeeyay beelihii dhawaan halkaasi isku qabtay. War La Xiriira Dagaalo Ka Dhacay Xeraale- Sunday, February 29, 2004 Dagaalkii shalay dhacay ayaa waxey warar aan lagu kalsooneyn sheegayaan in ay gaartay tirada dhimashada ee halkaasi 6 ruux iyadoo dhaawacana lagu sheegay tiro dhan saddex ruux, isgaarsiinta goobtaasi oo aan wanaagsayn waxaa adkaaday in la ogaado khasaaraha dhabta ah ee dirirtaas shalay ka dhashay, waxeyna wararka naga soo gaaraya Xeraale intaasi ku darayaan in dagaalku haatan qaboobay, iyadoo aysan jirrin cid kala dhex gashay beelaha halkaasi ku dirriraya, waxeyna dad ku sugan goobta dagaalku ka dhacay sheegeen in ay wali is hor fadhiyaan Maleeshiyo beeleedkii dirriray. Dagaalada Ka dhacaya deegaanka Xeraale ayey dad badan aaminsanyihiin in uu yahay mid salka ku haya arrimo siyaasadeed, walow siyaasiyiinta beelaha halkaasi ku dirriraya ay iska fogeeyeen mar wax laga weydiiyay in uusan dagaalkaasi wax siyaasad ah ku lug laheyn. Xeraale (AllPuntland)- Deegaanka Xeraale oo isagu ka mid ah deegaanada Gobolka Galgaduud ayaa saakay barqadii waxaa mar kale kasoo cusboonaaday dagaaladii sokeeye ee ay dadka deegaankaasi maalmahii u dambeeyay wax xoogaa ka nasteen. Wararka naga soo gaaraya Gobolkaasi ayaa waxey intaasi ku darayaan in saakay barqadii uu halkaasi dagaal ku dhex maray labadii beelood ee ay dirrirtu u dhaxeysay, dagaalkan ayaa la isku adeegsaday Qoryaha Darandooriga u dhaca ee AK47. waxaana la sheegay in qasaaraha dhimashada uu saakay barqadii ahaa 1 ruux oo dhimasho ah iyo dhaawac ka badan sadex ruux. Lama yaqaan sababaha dhabta ah ee soo cusboonaysiisay dagaaladan ka dhacaya Xeraale iyadoo todobaadkii hore dhex dhexaadin la doonayo in lagu dhameystiro dagaaladan uu ka dhacay Deegaanka Guri Ceel, kaasoo la sheegay in aysan soo xaadirin labada dhinacba, balse warar aanu ka helnay illo xog ogaal ah ayaa tibaaxaya in qorshaha dagaalkaasi uu ka fog yahay dadka goobaha dagaalka jooga, iyadoo la sheegay in ay dagaalkaasi abaabulayaan dad iyagu ku sugan dibadaha, waloow ay siyaasiyiinta labada dhinac ay marar badan ku celceliyeen in dagaalku uusan wax siyaasad ah ku lug laheyn.

(Posted by guest: Rooble)

Welcome To HornAfrik Online Inter-Clan Clashes In Central Somalia. At least 12 people were killed and 29 were wounded in the fighting. March 01, 2004 HornAfrik. Mogadishu Somalia At least 12 people were killed and 29 were wounded after fighting erupted between militias from rival clans in the village of Herale in central Somalia on Sunday, elders said. Village elder Ahmed Osman, contacted by radio on Sunday, described the fighting as "intense" and said that residents had fled Herale by the time the violence subsided in the afternoon, but with no ceasefire agreement. The fighting pitted the Marehan against the Dir clans, who have previously lived side by side peacefully in Abudwaaq, a district in Somalia's Galgudud region. The latest clashes are part of tit-for-tat confrontations resulting from the April 2003 murder of a Marehan elder, allegedly by Dir clansmen. The Dir are affiliated with the Southern Somalia National Movement (SSNM) of several sub-clan factions, while the Marehan belong to another factional grouping, the Somalia National Front (SNF). Both were among 27 factions that signed a ceasefire agreement in Kenya on October 27, 2002, to stop all hostilities in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation. Somalia plunged into clan warfare and has not had a recognized government since 1991 when the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled. Peace talks are continuing in Kenya Afhayeenka ururka SSNM Md.Awliyo oo faahfaahin ka bixiyay dagaalkii Xeraale. Afhayeenka ururka SSNM Cabdullaahi Xuseen Aybakar kuna magacdheer AWLIYO ayaa ka waramay siduu udhacay dagaalkii dhexmaray beelaha Mareexaan iyo Fiqi Muxumed waxuuna yiri isagoo u waramayay saxaafadda: Goor hore oo ah subaxnimadii taariikhdu ahayd Febraayo 29,ayaa maleeshiyada beesha Mareexaan waxay sidii caadadu uahayd duulaan gardarao ah ku soo ekeeyeen dhammmaan wadooyinka laga galo magaalda xeraale,duulaankaas oo sida laga warqabo ujeedadiisu ahayd sidii loo baro kicin lahaa loona xasuuqi lahaa beesha Reer Fiqi Muxumed oo ku caana dad ehlu diina oo waliggod cid ku gardaraysan.Haddaba siday qabto diinta Muqadaska ah waxay ku qasbanaadeen inay reer Xeraale Difacdaan Maatadooda,Maalkooda iyo xurmada ilaahay u abuuray adoonkiisa oo ah inuuna wax dulmin isna qaadan dulmi. Haddaba markii uu dagaalku socday uga yaraan 5 saac waxay dantu ku qasabtay kuwii soo duulay ee dulmi wadayaasha ahaa inay cagaha wax ka dayaan iyagoo ku hungoobay hamigoodii ahaa inay xasuuq gaystaan isla markaana deegaan hantiyaan,beesha mareexaan oo ku caan baxday inay isku raacaan gardarada iyo duulaan lagu qaado dad kale sida ay ka marqaati kacayso taariikhdu oo 21kii sano oo ay dalka hogaaminayaan waxay soomaali u gaystaan la wada ogyahay, Waxuu afhayeenku xaqiijiyay oo uu yiri.waxaa halgamayaashii xaq udirirka ka shahiiday hal mujaahid halka labo kale ay ka dhaawacmeen oo dhaawacoodu mid khafiif yahay halka daaquudyada waa siduu hadalka udhigaye ay ka dhinteen 12 nin ugu yaraana ka dhaawcmeen 19 daaquud labo baabuur oo ah kuwa dagaalkana looga gubay dulmiwadayaasha mareexaan,Md.Awliyo waxaa caalamka iyo inta jecel nabada ugu baaqay in si wadajir ah loogu guntado sidii loo joojin lahaa gardarada iyo gumaadka ay wadaan beesha Mareexaan oo xitaa markii looga soo baro kacay degaanada lala degi jiray ee ku teedsanaa balanabal iyo Caabudwaaq ina hadda wadaan Isir sifayn (ethnic cleansing) ku aadan reer Fiqi Muxumed ayuu yiri afhayeenku. Waxuu kaloo afhayeenka SSNM aduunka caalamka ka codsaday in si degdeg gurmad loola soo gaaro qoysas badan oo ku baro kacay duulaankaas,iyagoo dadkaasi ayna haysan biyo iyo baad oo degaankii laga cabi jiray ay saameeyeen degaalkaas joogtada ah oo ay soo qaadayaan beesha Mareexaan.

(Posted by guest: Boobe)

Tariikhda Mareexanka oo aha mid ku dhisan budcad nimo iyo Gardaro. 1980' "Kofyad Casta"inkaaran ee wadanka Somalia guueysatay,2600 oo ruux oo beesha Cumar Maxamuud ayay layeen oo lagu tirtiri gaaray beesha Cumar maxamuud(Majeerten) Bolisiya melataaradii Mareexan ay ilaa 450 gabdhood ka kufasadeen. 1985 Mareexanka oo ay watan dabadhilf yadoodi300,000 oo reer Hargeysa (waqooyi galbeed ayay ku duulen). Mantana kala go'a iyo is amin laanta Somali iyagaa ka dambeeyay. 50,000 oo besha Isaaq na lagu tirtiray iyagoo adegsanay bayloodyo South African ah oo madafiic ku rusheynaysay shicbka Waqooyi galbeed. 1970-1978 Mareexanka oo ku guleysta in ay ka tirtiraan beelihii lahaa gobolka Gedo iyo Garbahaaray region. Oo Raxahweyn, Dir iyo Ogadeen iskugu jira. Manta oo Mareexanka ay Daroodkii Kismayo daganaa waxay u adeegsadan Habar Gidir ay xuluufo la noqdeen si ay Mareexanku uga gacan sareeyan Belaha deegankas (Eeg Swedish & Danish Report) oo ka koreeya qeybtan) Mereexanka sideey u tirtireen: Gobweynta ,Waqdoore iyo Rexanweynta dalka Leheed. Iyagoo dadka meesha ugu tirada yar ayeey hadana beelah guumeysi ku hayaan. Ogow sida uu reporka sheegayo Beesha sadexad Tiro ahaaan waa Dir. MAATA 2004 Mareexan oo 800 oo cidan hub casri ah wata waxa ay isku dayayaan in aay ka bara kiciyan Beesh Fiqi Muxumad ee Direed Dagmada Xeraale. In kastoo ay isku dhigmin Sade Darood(Mareexan) iyo jilib yar, oo hoose, sida Fiqi Muxumad hadan iyaga iyo madaaficdii ay ku garaacayeen bulshada rayidka ah,bishii ramadaan eedhalatay 2003 oo dhan, wixii cidan iyo hub ahaa waxa gaaray beesha Mareexan guul daro weyn oo in ay tuulada Xiraale ilaa 37 nin oo cidamadoodi ah meydkoodi kaga carareen magalada dhixdeedi. Toofiqda Alle ha waafijiyo Fiqi Muxumad oo gardaro iyo dhulbalaarsi cad lagu wado. Fadlan ha la gargaaro dhaqaalo iyo maalba beeshan laga gardaran yahay, ilaa 3000 kun oo reerkaa aha ayaa meel duur cidla ah fadhiya ka dib markii ay maxeysatada Mareexan ee dhigya cabka ah Rabadaantii la soo dhafay ay hubka culus ee Hoobiyaha iyo Altalari ay ku garaaceen toolada

(Posted by guest: Hassan Muse)

List of Contents Nordic fact-finding mission to the Gedo region of Somalia1998 Background to the mission The Danish and Swedish Immigration Services carried out a joint fact-finding mission to the Gedo region in south-western Somalia from 15 to 30 October 1998. The mission followed on from a previous Danish and Swedish mission to the southern part of the Gedo region in the spring of 1997. The mission was carried out as a joint Danish and Swedish operation with the participation of the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen (US)) and the Swedish Immigration Service (Statens Invandrarverk (SIV)) together with representatives of the Danish and Swedish embassies in Nairobi. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)/Somali Rehabilitation Programme (SRP) and the UNDP, Somalia, provided the mission with logistical support during its stay in Gedo. They arranged the delegation's flights and other transport in the Gedo region and helped fix up its meetings with de facto authorities in Gedo. The delegation made use of interpreters throughout the mission, but was not at any time escorted by guards. It visited the towns of Mandera, in Kenya, where the UNOPS/SRP has its head office for south-western Somalia, including the Gedo region, and Belet Hawa, Dolo and Luuq within the Gedo region. The delegation had originally planned also to visit the town of Garba Harre, Gedo's regional capital. As the leaders of the Somali National Front (SNF) were in Belet Hawa at the time of the delegation's stay in the Gedo region, however, it was decided to call off the visit to Garba Harre. The delegation was led by Jens Weise Olesen, of the Danish Immigration Service, and also included Christer Svan, of the Swedish Immigration Service, Henrik Larsen, from the Danish Embassy in Nairobi, and Mikael Broman, from the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi. Geography, population and economy General points The former President of Somalia, Siad Barre, established the region of Gedo in 1974. The Gedo area used to form part of the Upper Juba region, subsequently divided into the three regions of Bay, Bakool and Gedo. In January 1991, when the Somali government collapsed, the Gedo region consisted of six districts: Garba Harre (the regional capital), Bardera, Luuq, El Waq, Dolo and Belet Hawa. See Annex 1 for a map of the Gedo region. Steps have since been taken to establish new districts within the Gedo region. Bur Dubo was hived off from Garba Harre and there have recently been moves in the El Ade and Ged Weyn areas to establish them as districts. The former regional capital, Garba Harre, currently still serves as the headquarters of the Marehan clans' traditional head (often referred to as "King of the Marehan"), Ugaas Omar Ugaas Hirsi, who lives in the village of Bamba Halima near Garba Harre. The Gedo region and its Marehan-based Somali National Front (SNF) militia movement were described by Andrew Fitzgibbon, Programme Officer for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)/Somali Rehabilitation Programme (SRP), as a last vestige of the Siad Barre era. Siad Barre was himself a Marehan and the Marehan clan is nowadays the politically, although not numerically, dominant clan in the Gedo region. The Gedo region is situated in the south-western part of Somalia and borders on Kenya to the west, Ethiopia to the north, the Bay and Bakool regions to the east and the Middle and Lower Juba regions to the south. It covers an area of 42 000 km2. See Annex 2 for a map of Somalia's administrative units. The civil war destroyed all administrative structures in the region and various main towns of districts have served as headquarters for the warring factions. Luuq was for a while the headquarters of the Islamic fundamentalist Al-Itihad militia movement, while Garba Harre formed the headquarters of the Marehan-dominated SNF militia movement. During the delegation's time in Gedo, the town of Belet Hawa was acting as the SNF's headquarters, while the smaller town of El Ade had until recently provided the main venue for the latest reconciliation conference between the SNF and Al-Itihad. Natural conditions and climate The vast majority of the Gedo region consists of arid or semi-arid savannah, except for the farming land along the Rivers Dawa and Juba. The main rainy season (known as the Gu) normally falls from April to June, with another, lesser season (known as the Deyr) coming in November and December, but rainfall is unevenly distributed in the region and can vary from 150 mm to 400 mm a year. The last few years have seen considerable fluctuations in rainfall. Average temperatures range from 22 to 35 Celsius, making the area one of the hottest places on earth. Many parts have an average daytime temperature of between 35 and 40 Celsius (UNDOS 1995a). The delegation was told that the district capital of Luuq has the highest average temperature in the world. Dry winds for most of the year result in very low humidity throughout the Gedo region. For the last two years, the Gedo region, like most of Somalia, has suffered a lengthy drought, followed by torrential rains and flooding. The drought in the winter of 1996/1997 saw the River Juba almost entirely dry up. Agricultural production and hence food supplies were seriously affected by the drought. The area was then hit by torrential downpours in the winter of 1997/1998, with agricultural production again seriously affected. Tens of thousands of farmers could only look on as their fields and crops were submerged in floodwater and many had to take refuge in higher-lying parts of the region. Population A report from the United Nations Development Office for Somalia (UNDOS) on local administration in Gedo put the region's population in 1995 at around one million, giving it a population density of 25 per km2. Those figures make Gedo one of the most densely populated parts of Somalia (UNDOS 1995a). The same source reports the population to have increased over the last three years (up to 1995) as a result of returning refugees. These figures, however, by no means tally with another UNDOS report, also dating from 1995, which puts the population at around 330 000 and population density at 8 per km2 (UNDOS 1995b). See Annex 3 for estimated population density in 1998. The latest UNOPS/SRP half-yearly report on the south-western area, including the Gedo region, refers to the absence of reliable data on birth rates, death rates or population flows, but assumes the population of Gedo to be around 300 000, giving a population density of 7,5 per km2. The same source points out that the population density figure for the region does not give a true picture, since the vast majority of the population lives in the farming areas along the River Juba (UNOPS/SRP 1998a). The report by the Danish and Swedish Immigration Services on an earlier visit to the Gedo region in 1997 (US/SIV 1997) includes the comment that the Gedo region is fairly complicated just in clan terms. Firstly there are many different clans in the area; secondly there is a large Bantu community; and lastly Gedo has a very large group of internally displaced people. Clan pattern Kenneth Menkhaus, Assistant Professor at Davidson College, North Carolina, and currently acting as a consultant for the UNDOS, is the main author of the Human Development Report, Somalia 1998, published by the UNDP, Somalia. The delegation was present when that report was presented by the UNDP, Somalia, in Nairobi on 24 October 1998 and afterwards held a meeting with Kenneth Menkhaus. One point made by the Human Development Report, Somalia 1998, is that clan membership and clan identity lie right at the heart of the social system in Somalia. The whole of society is organised around them, as perhaps shown more clearly by the present situation, in which the lack of any government has made the clan system vitally necessary for individual protection, day-to-day survival and law-and-order security. Clan identity is not, however, the only social factor in Somalia. In many places clan identity operates alongside other factors such as geographical background, class, gender and religious movements. This has given rise to a very fluid political landscape in Somalia. The shifting, flexible nature of clan identity or affiliation has also to be borne in mind. Firstly, all Somalis can trace their family back for about 30 generations, giving them membership of many subclans. The level of kinship, i.e. the "clan", turned to in any given situation depends entirely on what the problem is. Secondly, clan identities can change and be re-established according to circumstances. Clan members leaving their home area will in many cases take on the identity of the dominant clan in their new surroundings. This is referred to as shegad status. Where the situation so requires, however, they will be able to revert to their previous clan identity. Lastly, people who for various reasons move around in Somalia, e.g. business people or internally displaced persons, in seeking security across clan divisions, can attempt to avail themselves of kinship on the maternal side, where considered worthwhile. No sources would venture to comment on precise relative sizes of individual clans in the Gedo region, but all agreed that the Marehan clan was politically dominant there. Generally speaking, the Marehan clans were considered quite tolerant towards other clans in their area but Abdishakur Othowai, Coordinator for the Nomadic Primary Health Care Programme, Mandera, did not think that the Rahanweyn and Garre clans found any great favour in Marehan eyes. At the same time, however, he made the point that they did not suffer any abuses at the hands of Marehan clans merely on account of clan affiliation. He added that the Marehan clans tended only to respect clans with a military strength approaching their own. Rahanweyn clans therefore enjoyed somewhat greater respect in Marehan eyes than did Garre clans. He also pointed out, however, that only in Bardera had problems arisen in the past between the three clans. According to Abdishakur Othowai, extensive resettlement by Marehan clans in the Gedo region had been going on for some considerable time. Back in 1977-1980 the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia triggered large movements of people, with many Marehan members being transferred from Ethiopia to Luuq and Bur Dubo in particular. The Somali Government at the time, headed by Siad Barre, assisted Marehan settlers in Gedo with farm implements, among other facilities, while a Japanese NGO tried to persuade the Rahanweyn clans to accept the new Marehan settlers, arguing in particular that this was a temporary arrangement. The Marehan settlers were at present still living in those areas, with the Rahanweyn and Gabaweyn clans being squeezed out there as a result. The civil war in Somalia in the early 1990s prompted most Gabaweyn clans to leave the Gedo region and go to live in Kenya and Ethiopia. This enabled the Marehan clans finally to secure political power in the Gedo region. Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed, of the UNOPS/SRP, regarded that seizure of power as the culmination of a long-term strategy by the President at the time, Siad Barre, with the Gedo region having been established back in 1974 in order to create a regional base for the Marehan clans. A series of reconciliation meetings between clans have been held in various parts of the Gedo region since 1994. The first reconciliation in the Gedo region took place between the Ogadeni, Rahanweyn and Marehan clans in Bardera in 1994. The outcome was peace in Bardera and that reconciliation formed the first step towards peace in large parts of central and parts of south-western Somalia, namely the Bay, Bakool and Gedo regions as well as Lower and Middle Juba. February 1996 saw the holding of a further reconciliation meeting between the Rahanweyn and Marehan clans in Bardera. This was an attempt to revitalise trade between the Bay, Bakool and Gedo regions. The result of reconciliation this time was free movement between the three regions. The very prickly issue of ownership of farming land remained unresolved, however, with regular reconciliation meetings on that issue taking place between the Rahanweyn, Gabaweyn and Marehan clans. The Marehan clans currently still regard Bardera as their headquarters and do in fact dominate that area politically. Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed, of the UNOPS National Professional Project Personnel, Mandera, was convinced that the land issue would drag on, while also not doubting that it would be peacefully resolved through reconciliation. He pointed out here that some Marehan members had in actual fact returned part of the farming land to its rightful owners, in particular to Gabaweyn members. This was especially noticeable in the Luuq district. He nevertheless emphasised that most of the Gabaweyn community had not yet recovered their land and were therefore still living as refugees in Ethiopia, in places including Dolo (i.e. the Ethiopian part of the Somali-Ethiopian border town of Dolo). Barry Sesnan, of the UNOPS/SRP, similarly pointed out that the Gabaweyn community experienced great difficulty in recovering the land from which they had previously fled. In this connection he evidenced two appeals, of 27 April 1998 and 4 September 1998 respectively, from Gabaweyn and other Bantu communities previously living in Gedo but now refugees in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia. The letters in question are attached as Annexes 4 and 5. The first appeal contains a complaint by Garre Mare, Gabaweyn and Wakh Doore elders from the Dolo district of the Gedo region that a number of members of those communities have still not had land taken over by Marehan members during the war returned to them. The appeal calls on the UNOPS/SRP to cease its activities in areas in which the land ownership issue remains unresolved. The signatories of the appeal take the view that by means of its projects the UNOPS/SRP is assisting Marehan members who have unlawfully taken over properties from the Garre Mare, Gabaweyn and Wakh Doore communities. According to the appeal, those communities are now living as refugees in Mandera (Kenya) and in Dolo and Suftu (Ethiopia). The appeal of 4 September 1998 from Gasaregude, Gabaweyn elders in Mandera states that the Gasaregude,Gabaweyn lived mainly as farmers in the areas between the Rivers Juba and Shabelle and in particular in the farming areas of the Luuq, Dolo, Bur Dubo and Bardera districts. The Gasaregude, Gabaweyn community complain that, despite having peacefully coexisted with the Marehan community before the civil war, they were forced to flee from their properties. They are currently, according to the letters, still living as refugees in Mandera (Kenya) and in Dolo and Suftu (Ethiopia). The letters state that there are around 100 000 Gasaregude, Gabaweyn living there as refugees, without receiving any kind of international aid. They request assistance from the UNOPS/SRP for purposes including implementation of a Gabaweyn-Marehan reconciliation agreement and enabling refugees to be repatriated to and resettled in their former homelands in the Gedo region. However, the District Commissioner for Luuq, Mohamed Mohamud Aden, made it clear to the delegation that the land ownership issue there had been largely resolved in reconciliation between the area's Gabaweyn and Marehan clans. He explained that there were only three outstanding cases involving farming land and one case concerning a property in all of the Luuq district, emphasising that those four cases would be referred to the court in Luuq as soon as possible. He also denied that there was any "Bantu" community in the Gedo region. Staff at the UNOPS/SRP in Mandera listed the relative positions of the main clans as follows: Rahanweyn clans, including the Bantu communities of Gabaweyn and Garre; Marehan clans; Ogadeni clans; Dir clans. Abdishakur Othowai, Coordinator for the Nomadic Primary Health Care Programme, Mandera, however, took the view that, although the Gedo region was generally considered a Marehan one, the Marehan clans formed only the fourth largest clan group in Gedo. Both the Rahanweyn and the Bantu clans were present in far greater numbers than the Marehan. See Annex 6 as regards major Somali clans. Garba Harre, Belet Hawa and Dolo districts According to a note on the Gedo region produced by the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), the Marehan clan forms a majority in the Garba Harre, Belet Hawa and Dolo districts. El Waq district In the El Waq district, the UNPOS reported the Marehan and Garre clans to be roughly equal in size. Abdishakur Othowai nevertheless stated that El Waq was to be regarded as a Garre-dominated district, in which some cooperation was now taking place between the Marehan and Garre clans. The last of these were the original inhabitants of the area, but the Marehan clans nowadays enjoyed disproportionately great political influence and the town of El Waq could in clan make-up be said to fall into two parts. Luuq district In clan terms the Luuq district is divided into an eastern and a western part by the River Juba. The one side of the district capital, Luuq, is inhabited by Moalim Weine, Gobawein, Gasar Gudde, Dir, Shekal and Jiroon clans and the other side by Marehan clans. Politically speaking, the Marehan clans are in control of Luuq, with the other clans' political influence being curtailed by the Marehan clans' greater arms holdings. Further east in the Luuq district, the Marehan clans' influence declines as that of other, non-Marehan clans increases. Abdishakur Othowai explained that, before the civil war, the Bantu community known as the Gabaweyn were in the majority in Luuq, but during the war most Gabaweyn members fled to Ethiopia. The Marehan clan, not traditionally farmers as were the Gabaweyn, had to some extent taken over farming land from the Gabaweyn community. Large numbers of Gabaweyn now worked as agricultural labourers for Marehan members. Bardera district The Bardera district in the south of the Gedo region was visited by the Danish and Swedish Immigration Services in the spring of 1997. The clan pattern in that part of Gedo is described on pages 58 to 61 of the report on the Nordic fact-finding mission to central and southern Somalia from 15 February to 14 March 1997. The Bardera district is far more complicated than the other districts of the Gedo region in its clan make-up. In its note on the Gedo region, the UNPOS states that, before civil war broke out in 1990, Bardera was mainly the homeland of various Rahanweyn clans: Gelidle, Elay, Moalim Weine, Harin, Laysan, Shanta Alemo and Asharaf members. There were also Awlihan and Darod clans in Bardera. The Bardera district consists of over 180 villages, mainly inhabited by Rahanweyn clans. The Marehan clans traditionally, before the 1969 October revolution, formed a minority in Bardera. At that time only one village, Serinly, in the Bardera district was inhabited by Marehan clans. In the 1960s the Awlihan clan was in the majority in the western part of the town of Bardera, which like Luuq is divided into a western and an eastern part. The eastern part, containing the main section of the town, was at that time inhabited by Rahanweyn clans, with both Awlihan and Marehan clans living in the western part. From 1988 to 1990, however, Awlihan members were driven out of Bardera by the Marehan clans and since then most Awlihan members have been living in an area situated between the Sakow and Jilib districts of the Middle Juba region to the south of Gedo. In recent years a large number of Rahanweyn clans have returned to the town of Bardera. As both the Rahanweyn and the Awlihan clans are weaker than the Marehan clans militarily, however, those two clans have little political influence. Bardera is thus nowadays controlled by the Marehan clans. Abdishakur Othowai said that, before the civil war, the Rahanweyn clans formed the largest community in Bardera. Internally displaced persons The internally displaced people in the Gedo region come largely from the neighbouring regions of Bay and Bakool, many of them belonging to the Rahanweyn clans. A large proportion of these fled to Gedo in the autumn of 1995, after General Aideed's Somali National Alliance (SNA) militia force won control of places including Baidoa in the Bay region. In addition there are a large number of internally displaced people belonging to various Bantu groups. Some Bantu communities are also living as refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya. The latter were forced to flee as a result of wide-scale expropriation of their holdings by Somalis not previously engaged in farming but having lost their usual sources of income during the war and therefore grabbing land owned by the militarily insignificant Bantu community. This problem, also met with elsewhere in Somalia, has been further compounded by the fact that during the war many Marehan members originally having their homes in Mogadishu fled to Luuq and other places in Gedo in particular. Most of those internally displaced Marehan had lost all their possessions in the war and in their flight and they therefore seized farming land from the politically and militarily weaker Gabaweyn community in Gedo. It should be noted that most of the officers in former President Siad Barre's army were Marehan members, that clan being traditionally, according to Abdishakur Othowai, a kind of warrior clan. On his departure from Mogadishu in January 1991, Siad Barre left behind him a very large group of internally displaced Marehan in Somalia. Most of them fled to the Gedo region and on to Kenya. The source put at around 150 000 the number of Marehan members living as refugees in the Kenyan border town of Mandera until the refugee camps were closed down in 1994. The Marehan refugees were then, like large groups of Rahanweyn refugees, repatriated to the Gedo region, where they settled with UNHCR assistance. See Annex 7 for UNHCR figures on Somali refugees repatriated from Kenya since 1992. The large numbers of internally displaced people in the Gedo region live in camps or other temporary accommodation in or around the region's towns. Many of them run small businesses or workshops in the towns and make a living in that way. The delegation visited a settlement for internally displaced people just outside Belet Hawa and was told that as a rule they were housed by clan. The delegation was shown a settlement said only to house Marehan members previously driven out of Mogadishu. Those settlements were a hive of market activity and in spite of the primitive conditions there were many people engaged in everything from building work and well-digging to small-scale trading and carpentry. Steve Gluning, Field Security Officer for the World Food Programme (WFP), reported that the WFP did not distribute foodstuffs in Gedo or elsewhere in Somalia, as the food situation was not such as to make it necessary. Infrastructure Even before Somalia's civil war, the Gedo region was fairly poorly off for infrastructure. It then had just a few metalled roads, but nowadays the road network is rudimentary, with no metalled roads. For long stretches between Belet Hawa and Dolo there is no road and the delegation's cars were driving along dirt tracks almost all the way. In the 1930s the Italians built a road between Dolo and Luuq, which is now in ruins and for long stretches unusable. The delegation was advised against driving from Luuq to Bardera by car, moreover, as the road between the two towns was, if anything, in an even worse state. When the delegation visited the towns of Belet Hawa, Dolo and Luuq, many brick and concrete buildings could be seen to be in ruins, stripped by looting or simply derelict. None of the towns had any buildings in a fit state for the authorities to consider it possible to hold meetings with the delegation in them. The meetings in Belet Hawa were thus held in the SNF Chairman's yard, the meeting in Dolo on mats in a back yard among a number of outbuildings and the meetings in Luuq at AMREF premises outside the town. In Luuq there were a number of larger buildings built by the Italians during the colonial period, including a prison, an Italian governor's residence, an administrative building and a police station. All government buildings were very decrepit, however, and some had been bombed by Ethiopian forces in the war against Al-Itihad. The police station was partly destroyed by bombing. All buildings were largely empty of any contents, there being just a few primitive benches and tables in the district council offices, with the premises showing no visible signs of use. The towns are thus heavily marked by the destruction wreaked by the civil war, and the vast majority of Gedo's population live in primitive huts with no water or electricity. On the whole the region has no electricity supplies, apart from generators owned by better-off private individuals. The towns have no water supplies, except for hand-operated (and a few mechanically-operated) wells. . Economy The 1995 UNDOS report (UNDOS 1995a) puts the area of the Gedo region that can be farmed by natural means at only about 20%. Of that cultivable land, 80% lies in the fertile areas along the River Juba. According to the UNOPS/SRP half-yearly report for the first half of 1998 (UNOPS/SRP 1998a), the principal economic activities in Gedo are livestock and arable farming and trade with neighbouring regions and countries. Some of the trade with neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya takes the form of recorded trade via official crossing-points at Belet Hawa and El Waq on the border with Kenya and at Dolo on the border with Ethiopia. Considerable unofficial trade is also engaged in across the borders with both Kenya and Ethiopia. Extensive small trading goes on in all towns and villages as well. Kenneth Menkhaus, Assistant Professor at Davidson College/UNDOS consultant, considered the Gedo region's economy to be in reasonably good shape and described trade in the region as "booming". Traders in Gedo made more profit than, for instance, those in Hargeisa, in north-western Somalia (Somaliland). He pointed out that the Gedo region was a centre for brisk trading between Somalia and Kenya or Ethiopia. Large quantities of goods were brought from Mogadishu to Bardera by lorry. Bardera, being the largest town in the Gedo region, formed the centre of that trade, with active flows of funds both from abroad and to and from Mogadishu. Kenneth Menkhaus explained that the vast bulk of the capital built up in Bardera was channelled back to Mogadishu in order to bring in further goods from Mogadishu (and Merka). He regarded this as a clear sign of economic health, since the money remained in Somalia, while also pointing to his own surprise how little capital there actually was in the Gedo region. Virtually all capital had left the area, with the lack of capital plain to see, not least in Luuq. Kenneth Menkhaus reported people in Luuq to be poor, with hardly any money in circulation. He made it clear that the group of business people in possession of any sizeable trading capital was very small. He also regarded the Small Loan Fund (SLF) scheme run by the Somalia Rehabilitation Project (SRP) as very important for Gedo's economy. The vast majority of imported goods in Gedo come from Mogadishu, making the state of the roads and the security of Gedo's neighbouring regions vitally important if trade is to continue. While in Luuq, the delegation visited a transhipment centre for imported goods from Mogadishu. The centre contained a number of trucks from Mogadishu, from which goods were transferred to what were referred to as "Marehan trucks". These then took goods on to destinations in Gedo. Luuq District Council reported that it had begun taxing trade in the area. Goods from Mogadishu and livestock transactions were taxed, with the tax revenue being used for purposes including police pay. Livestock production, however, forms the main economic activity in Gedo. The above source explained that government figures from just before the civil war put Gedo's livestock population at around 3 million. That included camels, goats, sheep and cattle. Agricultural production was of great importance to Bantus and members of Rahanweyn clans. Barry Sesnan, Area Manager (Gedo region) for the UNOPS/SRP, considered the population's survival strategies to have worked as intended during the flood disaster in the winter of 1997/98. Large sectors of the affected population were thus able to survive from stockpiled resources. Another effect of the flooding had been to make farming land more fertile by supplying an input of minerals. Elsewhere, however, some farming land was partly spoiled by a covering of sand. Police Steve Gluning and Barry Sesnan explained that there were police forces in all districts of the Gedo region. Steve Gluning added that he had visited all of the region's police stations, finding records kept everywhere of incidents in the district. Isaq Aden Abdi, Luuq head of police, reported that Luuq employed about 30 police officers, who received irregular, token pay from the district council. Politically motivated persecution According to Steve Gluning, there was no persecution on account of political views held. This was confirmed by Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed, who did not know of any instances of, say, Al-Itihad members being arrested or imprisoned by the SNF. He made the point that politics in Somalia, including Gedo, was confined to the clan, so that political differences could be freely discussed within the clan. There were examples, however, of people being killed as a result of political disagreements. He was not sure of the precise figure, but from two to four people had been killed for political reasons over the last three or four years. There had in the past been some political disagreements between the Marehan and Rahanweyn clans in Bardera, in southern Gedo. However, Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed stated that since 1996 there had not been any kind of politically motivated persecution as between the Rahanweyn and Marehan clans. Abdishakur Othowai was able to report that, about six months earlier, SNF militia units and Ethiopian troops would not, in those parts of Gedo controlled by them, allow men to wear a full-length beard. The SNF and the Ethiopians regarded men wearing a full-length beard as attempting to show their support for Al-Itihad. Ethnic/clan-based discrimination Steve Gluning stated that nobody in the Gedo region suffered persecution merely on account of their ethnic background or clan membership. As mentioned above, Gedo's Marehan clans are considered quite tolerant towards other clans. Abdishakur Othowai made it clear that no clan member in the Gedo region would experience discrimination merely on account of clan membership. He did point out, however, that members of the Bantu community had historically always been discriminated against by the other Somali clans. Abdishakur Othowai regarded it as a downright infringement of human rights for a member of the authorities to deny the existence of a Bantu community, as happened when the delegation met the authorities in Luuq. Only as between the other Somali clans and the Bantu clans could Abdishakur Othowai seen any examples of abuses, committed against the Bantu community, e.g. Bantu-owned farming land being taken over by other Somali clans during the civil war. On the other hand, he could report that many Bantus were active in business in Gedo. In Belet Hawa, for instance, the best shops were usually owned by members of the Bantu community, who did not suffer any abuses on that account. Barry Sesnan, too, regarded ownership of farming land as a key issue in relations between the Bantu community and the other Somali clans. As regards the position of the Midgan clans in Gedo, Abdishakur Othowai explained that there were two such clans in Belet Hawa: the Hararsane and the Habr Yaqub. Members of those clans never married members of the Marehan clans, but they formed an integral part of the Marehan clan structure and did not face any kind of ill-treatment or discrimination. They owned land and property and on the whole supported themselves. There were many examples of Hararsane and Habr Yaqub members of both the SNF and district councils in Gedo. Position of women Steve Gluning reported there to be few examples of women active in politics but a number of women members of development management groups (DMGs). According to Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed, there were two women in the Luuq DMG, two in the Garba Harre DMG and one in the Bardera DMG. No women sat on any of the region's district councils. Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed stated that reconciliation meetings were an all-male affair, although women were often able to press men into advancing women's interests, e.g. as regard peace and reconciliation moves. He referred to instances of women organising political demonstrations, such as a women's demonstration held in Belet Hawa in the summer of 1998 in support of the reconciliation process between Al-Itihad and the SNF. Abdishakur Othowai reported examples of Ethiopian troops in Gedo and local SNF militia units ill-treating veiled women, following the defeat of Al-Itihad, when former Al-Itihad members were being disarmed. In many cases Ethiopian soldiers publicly undressed veiled women in the street, officially so as to check whether they might be armed, but in many people's opinion in order to humiliate Al-Itihad supporters. The source emphasised, however, that such abuses had largely ceased since the initiation of reconciliation meetings between the SNF and Al-Itihad. He ended by pointing out that the incidents in question had taken place six months earlier. Humanitarian situation Food supplies Since the flooding in 1997/98, when agricultural production fell sharply, making the food supply situation very difficult, the position has improved considerably. Wayne Long thus reported food supplies to be back to normal throughout the region. The delegation could also see for itself that markets in Belet Hawa, Dolo and Luuq were well supplied with both imported and locally produced foodstuffs and other consumer goods. Steve Gluning, Field Security Adviser for the WFP, said that the WFP did not see any need to distribute foodstuffs in Gedo. Health Kenneth Menkhaus considered the health system in Gedo, as in the rest of Somalia, to be in a sorry state. He reported that there was only one surgeon at the AMREF hospital in Luuq. In addition to the hospital in Luuq, there was also a smaller one in Belet Hawa, although he would not call it a proper hospital, more a kind of clinic. According to Dr I. Tahalil, administrator of the AMREF hospital in Luuq, the hospital staff were frequently assisted by "flying doctors" from Nairobi, who during their stay of about a week performed surgical operations at the hospital. The delegation also visited the Khalil hospital in Belet Hawa, whose day-to-day administrator, Ahmed Abdi, gave the following explanation: The Khalil hospital in Belet Hawa covered the districts of Belet Hawa and Dolo. It ran an MCH clinic in Dolo as well. The hospital also admitted patients from Mandera, in Kenya. In addition to the hospital in Luuq, there was another one in Garbahare. All medical and surgical equipment was supplied by Trocaire, UNICEF and the WHO. The hospital consisted of a children's ward, a women's ward, a men's ward and a maternity ward, plus an operating theatre and a medical laboratory. It had 50 beds and employed one doctor, six trained nurses, six midwives, fourteen untrained assistant nurses and three laboratory technicians. Between 20 and 40 patients a month were admitted, unless there was, for instance, an outbreak of malaria in the area, which brought a considerable increase in the number of patients. Between 40 and 50 people a day were treated as outpatients. Patients were charged a small fee of about 20 Kenyan shillings (approx. DKK 2) for medical treatment and 100 Kenyan shillings (approx. DKK 10) for hospitalisation. Ahmed Abdi reported that the introduction of this charge had not affected patient numbers. The bulk of treatment given was for common respiratory diseases, diarrhoea, tuberculosis and malaria, there being many outbreaks of this last disease, especially in the rainy season. Education Barry Sesnan explained that education was only given at primary level (the first to eighth years of schooling) in the Gedo region. No district had any secondary schools (for the ninth to twelfth years) in operation. He reported, however, that many of the children in areas bordering on Kenya attended school in Kenya. He referred here to a recent report, entitled "Education in Gedo Region", produced by the UNOPS/SRP in Mandera. According to that report, there are primary schools in all districts of the Gedo region except for El Waq. It confirms the absence of any secondary schools. Some of the schools receive assistance from international NGOs, such as Trocaire in Belet Hawa, while other schools operate without international aid. The report also confirms that large numbers of school-age children living near the Kenyan border, i.e. in the towns of Belet Hawa and El Waq, are taught at Kenyan schools in Mandera and El Wak in Kenya. This holds true at both primary and secondary level. In the town of Belet Hawa, for instance, 20% of all school-age children are believed to attend Mandera Primary School in Kenya. SOURCE: The Danish and Swedish Immigration ServicesList of Contents Nordic fact-finding mission to the Gedo region of Somalia1998 Background to the mission The Danish and Swedish Immigration Services carried out a joint fact-finding mission to the Gedo region in south-western Somalia from 15 to 30 October 1998. The mission followed on from a previous Danish and Swedish mission to the southern part of the Gedo region in the spring of 1997. The mission was carried out as a joint Danish and Swedish operation with the participation of the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen (US)) and the Swedish Immigration Service (Statens Invandrarverk (SIV)) together with representatives of the Danish and Swedish embassies in Nairobi. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)/Somali Rehabilitation Programme (SRP) and the UNDP, Somalia, provided the mission with logistical support during its stay in Gedo. They arranged the delegation's flights and other transport in the Gedo region and helped fix up its meetings with de facto authorities in Gedo. The delegation made use of interpreters throughout the mission, but was not at any time escorted by guards. It visited the towns of Mandera, in Kenya, where the UNOPS/SRP has its head office for south-western Somalia, including the Gedo region, and Belet Hawa, Dolo and Luuq within the Gedo region. The delegation had originally planned also to visit the town of Garba Harre, Gedo's regional capital. As the leaders of the Somali National Front (SNF) were in Belet Hawa at the time of the delegation's stay in the Gedo region, however, it was decided to call off the visit to Garba Harre. The delegation was led by Jens Weise Olesen, of the Danish Immigration Service, and also included Christer Svan, of the Swedish Immigration Service, Henrik Larsen, from the Danish Embassy in Nairobi, and Mikael Broman, from the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi. Geography, population and economy General points The former President of Somalia, Siad Barre, established the region of Gedo in 1974. The Gedo area used to form part of the Upper Juba region, subsequently divided into the three regions of Bay, Bakool and Gedo. In January 1991, when the Somali government collapsed, the Gedo region consisted of six districts: Garba Harre (the regional capital), Bardera, Luuq, El Waq, Dolo and Belet Hawa. See Annex 1 for a map of the Gedo region. Steps have since been taken to establish new districts within the Gedo region. Bur Dubo was hived off from Garba Harre and there have recently been moves in the El Ade and Ged Weyn areas to establish them as districts. The former regional capital, Garba Harre, currently still serves as the headquarters of the Marehan clans' traditional head (often referred to as "King of the Marehan"), Ugaas Omar Ugaas Hirsi, who lives in the village of Bamba Halima near Garba Harre. The Gedo region and its Marehan-based Somali National Front (SNF) militia movement were described by Andrew Fitzgibbon, Programme Officer for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)/Somali Rehabilitation Programme (SRP), as a last vestige of the Siad Barre era. Siad Barre was himself a Marehan and the Marehan clan is nowadays the politically, although not numerically, dominant clan in the Gedo region. The Gedo region is situated in the south-western part of Somalia and borders on Kenya to the west, Ethiopia to the north, the Bay and Bakool regions to the east and the Middle and Lower Juba regions to the south. It covers an area of 42 000 km2. See Annex 2 for a map of Somalia's administrative units. The civil war destroyed all administrative structures in the region and various main towns of districts have served as headquarters for the warring factions. Luuq was for a while the headquarters of the Islamic fundamentalist Al-Itihad militia movement, while Garba Harre formed the headquarters of the Marehan-dominated SNF militia movement. During the delegation's time in Gedo, the town of Belet Hawa was acting as the SNF's headquarters, while the smaller town of El Ade had until recently provided the main venue for the latest reconciliation conference between the SNF and Al-Itihad. Natural conditions and climate The vast majority of the Gedo region consists of arid or semi-arid savannah, except for the farming land along the Rivers Dawa and Juba. The main rainy season (known as the Gu) normally falls from April to June, with another, lesser season (known as the Deyr) coming in November and December, but rainfall is unevenly distributed in the region and can vary from 150 mm to 400 mm a year. The last few years have seen considerable fluctuations in rainfall. Average temperatures range from 22 to 35 Celsius, making the area one of the hottest places on earth. Many parts have an average daytime temperature of between 35 and 40 Celsius (UNDOS 1995a). The delegation was told that the district capital of Luuq has the highest average temperature in the world. Dry winds for most of the year result in very low humidity throughout the Gedo region. For the last two years, the Gedo region, like most of Somalia, has suffered a lengthy drought, followed by torrential rains and flooding. The drought in the winter of 1996/1997 saw the River Juba almost entirely dry up. Agricultural production and hence food supplies were seriously affected by the drought. The area was then hit by torrential downpours in the winter of 1997/1998, with agricultural production again seriously affected. Tens of thousands of farmers could only look on as their fields and crops were submerged in floodwater and many had to take refuge in higher-lying parts of the region. Population A report from the United Nations Development Office for Somalia (UNDOS) on local administration in Gedo put the region's population in 1995 at around one million, giving it a population density of 25 per km2. Those figures make Gedo one of the most densely populated parts of Somalia (UNDOS 1995a). The same source reports the population to have increased over the last three years (up to 1995) as a result of returning refugees. These figures, however, by no means tally with another UNDOS report, also dating from 1995, which puts the population at around 330 000 and population density at 8 per km2 (UNDOS 1995b). See Annex 3 for estimated population density in 1998. The latest UNOPS/SRP half-yearly report on the south-western area, including the Gedo region, refers to the absence of reliable data on birth rates, death rates or population flows, but assumes the population of Gedo to be around 300 000, giving a population density of 7,5 per km2. The same source points out that the population density figure for the region does not give a true picture, since the vast majority of the population lives in the farming areas along the River Juba (UNOPS/SRP 1998a). The report by the Danish and Swedish Immigration Services on an earlier visit to the Gedo region in 1997 (US/SIV 1997) includes the comment that the Gedo region is fairly complicated just in clan terms. Firstly there are many different clans in the area; secondly there is a large Bantu community; and lastly Gedo has a very large group of internally displaced people. Clan pattern Kenneth Menkhaus, Assistant Professor at Davidson College, North Carolina, and currently acting as a consultant for the UNDOS, is the main author of the Human Development Report, Somalia 1998, published by the UNDP, Somalia. The delegation was present when that report was presented by the UNDP, Somalia, in Nairobi on 24 October 1998 and afterwards held a meeting with Kenneth Menkhaus. One point made by the Human Development Report, Somalia 1998, is that clan membership and clan identity lie right at the heart of the social system in Somalia. The whole of society is organised around them, as perhaps shown more clearly by the present situation, in which the lack of any government has made the clan system vitally necessary for individual protection, day-to-day survival and law-and-order security. Clan identity is not, however, the only social factor in Somalia. In many places clan identity operates alongside other factors such as geographical background, class, gender and religious movements. This has given rise to a very fluid political landscape in Somalia. The shifting, flexible nature of clan identity or affiliation has also to be borne in mind. Firstly, all Somalis can trace their family back for about 30 generations, giving them membership of many subclans. The level of kinship, i.e. the "clan", turned to in any given situation depends entirely on what the problem is. Secondly, clan identities can change and be re-established according to circumstances. Clan members leaving their home area will in many cases take on the identity of the dominant clan in their new surroundings. This is referred to as shegad status. Where the situation so requires, however, they will be able to revert to their previous clan identity. Lastly, people who for various reasons move around in Somalia, e.g. business people or internally displaced persons, in seeking security across clan divisions, can attempt to avail themselves of kinship on the maternal side, where considered worthwhile. No sources would venture to comment on precise relative sizes of individual clans in the Gedo region, but all agreed that the Marehan clan was politically dominant there. Generally speaking, the Marehan clans were considered quite tolerant towards other clans in their area but Abdishakur Othowai, Coordinator for the Nomadic Primary Health Care Programme, Mandera, did not think that the Rahanweyn and Garre clans found any great favour in Marehan eyes. At the same time, however, he made the point that they did not suffer any abuses at the hands of Marehan clans merely on account of clan affiliation. He added that the Marehan clans tended only to respect clans with a military strength approaching their own. Rahanweyn clans therefore enjoyed somewhat greater respect in Marehan eyes than did Garre clans. He also pointed out, however, that only in Bardera had problems arisen in the past between the three clans. According to Abdishakur Othowai, extensive resettlement by Marehan clans in the Gedo region had been going on for some considerable time. Back in 1977-1980 the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia triggered large movements of people, with many Marehan members being transferred from Ethiopia to Luuq and Bur Dubo in particular. The Somali Government at the time, headed by Siad Barre, assisted Marehan settlers in Gedo with farm implements, among other facilities, while a Japanese NGO tried to persuade the Rahanweyn clans to accept the new Marehan settlers, arguing in particular that this was a temporary arrangement. The Marehan settlers were at present still living in those areas, with the Rahanweyn and Gabaweyn clans being squeezed out there as a result. The civil war in Somalia in the early 1990s prompted most Gabaweyn clans to leave the Gedo region and go to live in Kenya and Ethiopia. This enabled the Marehan clans finally to secure political power in the Gedo region. Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed, of the UNOPS/SRP, regarded that seizure of power as the culmination of a long-term strategy by the President at the time, Siad Barre, with the Gedo region having been established back in 1974 in order to create a regional base for the Marehan clans. A series of reconciliation meetings between clans have been held in various parts of the Gedo region since 1994. The first reconciliation in the Gedo region took place between the Ogadeni, Rahanweyn and Marehan clans in Bardera in 1994. The outcome was peace in Bardera and that reconciliation formed the first step towards peace in large parts of central and parts of south-western Somalia, namely the Bay, Bakool and Gedo regions as well as Lower and Middle Juba. February 1996 saw the holding of a further reconciliation meeting between the Rahanweyn and Marehan clans in Bardera. This was an attempt to revitalise trade between the Bay, Bakool and Gedo regions. The result of reconciliation this time was free movement between the three regions. The very prickly issue of ownership of farming land remained unresolved, however, with regular reconciliation meetings on that issue taking place between the Rahanweyn, Gabaweyn and Marehan clans. The Marehan clans currently still regard Bardera as their headquarters and do in fact dominate that area politically. Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed, of the UNOPS National Professional Project Personnel, Mandera, was convinced that the land issue would drag on, while also not doubting that it would be peacefully resolved through reconciliation. He pointed out here that some Marehan members had in actual fact returned part of the farming land to its rightful owners, in particular to Gabaweyn members. This was especially noticeable in the Luuq district. He nevertheless emphasised that most of the Gabaweyn community had not yet recovered their land and were therefore still living as refugees in Ethiopia, in places including Dolo (i.e. the Ethiopian part of the Somali-Ethiopian border town of Dolo). Barry Sesnan, of the UNOPS/SRP, similarly pointed out that the Gabaweyn community experienced great difficulty in recovering the land from which they had previously fled. In this connection he evidenced two appeals, of 27 April 1998 and 4 September 1998 respectively, from Gabaweyn and other Bantu communities previously living in Gedo but now refugees in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia. The letters in question are attached as Annexes 4 and 5. The first appeal contains a complaint by Garre Mare, Gabaweyn and Wakh Doore elders from the Dolo district of the Gedo region that a number of members of those communities have still not had land taken over by Marehan members during the war returned to them. The appeal calls on the UNOPS/SRP to cease its activities in areas in which the land ownership issue remains unresolved. The signatories of the appeal take the view that by means of its projects the UNOPS/SRP is assisting Marehan members who have unlawfully taken over properties from the Garre Mare, Gabaweyn and Wakh Doore communities. According to the appeal, those communities are now living as refugees in Mandera (Kenya) and in Dolo and Suftu (Ethiopia). The appeal of 4 September 1998 from Gasaregude, Gabaweyn elders in Mandera states that the Gasaregude,Gabaweyn lived mainly as farmers in the areas between the Rivers Juba and Shabelle and in particular in the farming areas of the Luuq, Dolo, Bur Dubo and Bardera districts. The Gasaregude, Gabaweyn community complain that, despite having peacefully coexisted with the Marehan community before the civil war, they were forced to flee from their properties. They are currently, according to the letters, still living as refugees in Mandera (Kenya) and in Dolo and Suftu (Ethiopia). The letters state that there are around 100 000 Gasaregude, Gabaweyn living there as refugees, without receiving any kind of international aid. They request assistance from the UNOPS/SRP for purposes including implementation of a Gabaweyn-Marehan reconciliation agreement and enabling refugees to be repatriated to and resettled in their former homelands in the Gedo region. However, the District Commissioner for Luuq, Mohamed Mohamud Aden, made it clear to the delegation that the land ownership issue there had been largely resolved in reconciliation between the area's Gabaweyn and Marehan clans. He explained that there were only three outstanding cases involving farming land and one case concerning a property in all of the Luuq district, emphasising that those four cases would be referred to the court in Luuq as soon as possible. He also denied that there was any "Bantu" community in the Gedo region. Staff at the UNOPS/SRP in Mandera listed the relative positions of the main clans as follows: Rahanweyn clans, including the Bantu communities of Gabaweyn and Garre; Marehan clans; Ogadeni clans; Dir clans. Abdishakur Othowai, Coordinator for the Nomadic Primary Health Care Programme, Mandera, however, took the view that, although the Gedo region was generally considered a Marehan one, the Marehan clans formed only the fourth largest clan group in Gedo. Both the Rahanweyn and the Bantu clans were present in far greater numbers than the Marehan. See Annex 6 as regards major Somali clans. Garba Harre, Belet Hawa and Dolo districts According to a note on the Gedo region produced by the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), the Marehan clan forms a majority in the Garba Harre, Belet Hawa and Dolo districts. El Waq district In the El Waq district, the UNPOS reported the Marehan and Garre clans to be roughly equal in size. Abdishakur Othowai nevertheless stated that El Waq was to be regarded as a Garre-dominated district, in which some cooperation was now taking place between the Marehan and Garre clans. The last of these were the original inhabitants of the area, but the Marehan clans nowadays enjoyed disproportionately great political influence and the town of El Waq could in clan make-up be said to fall into two parts. Luuq district In clan terms the Luuq district is divided into an eastern and a western part by the River Juba. The one side of the district capital, Luuq, is inhabited by Moalim Weine, Gobawein, Gasar Gudde, Dir, Shekal and Jiroon clans and the other side by Marehan clans. Politically speaking, the Marehan clans are in control of Luuq, with the other clans' political influence being curtailed by the Marehan clans' greater arms holdings. Further east in the Luuq district, the Marehan clans' influence declines as that of other, non-Marehan clans increases. Abdishakur Othowai explained that, before the civil war, the Bantu community known as the Gabaweyn were in the majority in Luuq, but during the war most Gabaweyn members fled to Ethiopia. The Marehan clan, not traditionally farmers as were the Gabaweyn, had to some extent taken over farming land from the Gabaweyn community. Large numbers of Gabaweyn now worked as agricultural labourers for Marehan members. Bardera district The Bardera district in the south of the Gedo region was visited by the Danish and Swedish Immigration Services in the spring of 1997. The clan pattern in that part of Gedo is described on pages 58 to 61 of the report on the Nordic fact-finding mission to central and southern Somalia from 15 February to 14 March 1997. The Bardera district is far more complicated than the other districts of the Gedo region in its clan make-up. In its note on the Gedo region, the UNPOS states that, before civil war broke out in 1990, Bardera was mainly the homeland of various Rahanweyn clans: Gelidle, Elay, Moalim Weine, Harin, Laysan, Shanta Alemo and Asharaf members. There were also Awlihan and Darod clans in Bardera. The Bardera district consists of over 180 villages, mainly inhabited by Rahanweyn clans. The Marehan clans traditionally, before the 1969 October revolution, formed a minority in Bardera. At that time only one village, Serinly, in the Bardera district was inhabited by Marehan clans. In the 1960s the Awlihan clan was in the majority in the western part of the town of Bardera, which like Luuq is divided into a western and an eastern part. The eastern part, containing the main section of the town, was at that time inhabited by Rahanweyn clans, with both Awlihan and Marehan clans living in the western part. From 1988 to 1990, however, Awlihan members were driven out of Bardera by the Marehan clans and since then most Awlihan members have been living in an area situated between the Sakow and Jilib districts of the Middle Juba region to the south of Gedo. In recent years a large number of Rahanweyn clans have returned to the town of Bardera. As both the Rahanweyn and the Awlihan clans are weaker than the Marehan clans militarily, however, those two clans have little political influence. Bardera is thus nowadays controlled by the Marehan clans. Abdishakur Othowai said that, before the civil war, the Rahanweyn clans formed the largest community in Bardera. Internally displaced persons The internally displaced people in the Gedo region come largely from the neighbouring regions of Bay and Bakool, many of them belonging to the Rahanweyn clans. A large proportion of these fled to Gedo in the autumn of 1995, after General Aideed's Somali National Alliance (SNA) militia force won control of places including Baidoa in the Bay region. In addition there are a large number of internally displaced people belonging to various Bantu groups. Some Bantu communities are also living as refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya. The latter were forced to flee as a result of wide-scale expropriation of their holdings by Somalis not previously engaged in farming but having lost their usual sources of income during the war and therefore grabbing land owned by the militarily insignificant Bantu community. This problem, also met with elsewhere in Somalia, has been further compounded by the fact that during the war many Marehan members originally having their homes in Mogadishu fled to Luuq and other places in Gedo in particular. Most of those internally displaced Marehan had lost all their possessions in the war and in their flight and they therefore seized farming land from the politically and militarily weaker Gabaweyn community in Gedo. It should be noted that most of the officers in former President Siad Barre's army were Marehan members, that clan being traditionally, according to Abdishakur Othowai, a kind of warrior clan. On his departure from Mogadishu in January 1991, Siad Barre left behind him a very large group of internally displaced Marehan in Somalia. Most of them fled to the Gedo region and on to Kenya. The source put at around 150 000 the number of Marehan members living as refugees in the Kenyan border town of Mandera until the refugee camps were closed down in 1994. The Marehan refugees were then, like large groups of Rahanweyn refugees, repatriated to the Gedo region, where they settled with UNHCR assistance. See Annex 7 for UNHCR figures on Somali refugees repatriated from Kenya since 1992. The large numbers of internally displaced people in the Gedo region live in camps or other temporary accommodation in or around the region's towns. Many of them run small businesses or workshops in the towns and make a living in that way. The delegation visited a settlement for internally displaced people just outside Belet Hawa and was told that as a rule they were housed by clan. The delegation was shown a settlement said only to house Marehan members previously driven out of Mogadishu. Those settlements were a hive of market activity and in spite of the primitive conditions there were many people engaged in everything from building work and well-digging to small-scale trading and carpentry. Steve Gluning, Field Security Officer for the World Food Programme (WFP), reported that the WFP did not distribute foodstuffs in Gedo or elsewhere in Somalia, as the food situation was not such as to make it necessary. Infrastructure Even before Somalia's civil war, the Gedo region was fairly poorly off for infrastructure. It then had just a few metalled roads, but nowadays the road network is rudimentary, with no metalled roads. For long stretches between Belet Hawa and Dolo there is no road and the delegation's cars were driving along dirt tracks almost all the way. In the 1930s the Italians built a road between Dolo and Luuq, which is now in ruins and for long stretches unusable. The delegation was advised against driving from Luuq to Bardera by car, moreover, as the road between the two towns was, if anything, in an even worse state. When the delegation visited the towns of Belet Hawa, Dolo and Luuq, many brick and concrete buildings could be seen to be in ruins, stripped by looting or simply derelict. None of the towns had any buildings in a fit state for the authorities to consider it possible to hold meetings with the delegation in them. The meetings in Belet Hawa were thus held in the SNF Chairman's yard, the meeting in Dolo on mats in a back yard among a number of outbuildings and the meetings in Luuq at AMREF premises outside the town. In Luuq there were a number of larger buildings built by the Italians during the colonial period, including a prison, an Italian governor's residence, an administrative building and a police station. All government buildings were very decrepit, however, and some had been bombed by Ethiopian forces in the war against Al-Itihad. The police station was partly destroyed by bombing. All buildings were largely empty of any contents, there being just a few primitive benches and tables in the district council offices, with the premises showing no visible signs of use. The towns are thus heavily marked by the destruction wreaked by the civil war, and the vast majority of Gedo's population live in primitive huts with no water or electricity. On the whole the region has no electricity supplies, apart from generators owned by better-off private individuals. The towns have no water supplies, except for hand-operated (and a few mechanically-operated) wells. . Economy The 1995 UNDOS report (UNDOS 1995a) puts the area of the Gedo region that can be farmed by natural means at only about 20%. Of that cultivable land, 80% lies in the fertile areas along the River Juba. According to the UNOPS/SRP half-yearly report for the first half of 1998 (UNOPS/SRP 1998a), the principal economic activities in Gedo are livestock and arable farming and trade with neighbouring regions and countries. Some of the trade with neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya takes the form of recorded trade via official crossing-points at Belet Hawa and El Waq on the border with Kenya and at Dolo on the border with Ethiopia. Considerable unofficial trade is also engaged in across the borders with both Kenya and Ethiopia. Extensive small trading goes on in all towns and villages as well. Kenneth Menkhaus, Assistant Professor at Davidson College/UNDOS consultant, considered the Gedo region's economy to be in reasonably good shape and described trade in the region as "booming". Traders in Gedo made more profit than, for instance, those in Hargeisa, in north-western Somalia (Somaliland). He pointed out that the Gedo region was a centre for brisk trading between Somalia and Kenya or Ethiopia. Large quantities of goods were brought from Mogadishu to Bardera by lorry. Bardera, being the largest town in the Gedo region, formed the centre of that trade, with active flows of funds both from abroad and to and from Mogadishu. Kenneth Menkhaus explained that the vast bulk of the capital built up in Bardera was channelled back to Mogadishu in order to bring in further goods from Mogadishu (and Merka). He regarded this as a clear sign of economic health, since the money remained in Somalia, while also pointing to his own surprise how little capital there actually was in the Gedo region. Virtually all capital had left the area, with the lack of capital plain to see, not least in Luuq. Kenneth Menkhaus reported people in Luuq to be poor, with hardly any money in circulation. He made it clear that the group of business people in possession of any sizeable trading capital was very small. He also regarded the Small Loan Fund (SLF) scheme run by the Somalia Rehabilitation Project (SRP) as very important for Gedo's economy. The vast majority of imported goods in Gedo come from Mogadishu, making the state of the roads and the security of Gedo's neighbo

Global Coordinate Gave much false headline about Gedo and Its Marehan Population. Nordic Fact Finding authors state that Marehan and its "King" Ugaas Omar Ugas Hirsi always work for peace and tranquility. Any reader of this 1998 report would find that Marehan is the most respectful Somali clan. From Doolow to Raskambooni, Marehan populous gives unyielding respect to minority clans who live under Marehan leadership. I can predict that in the near future, as early as 2010, Marehan will herold a new era for Somalia.

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia Field Trip Report Jijiga 22 to 29 April 1994 http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/jijigmay.htm The Horyaal Democratic Party was founded by the Dir Gadabursi clan; their area of influence straddles the Somaliland border and incorporated the Dire Dawa, Jijiga and the Awbar zones. On 9 February 1994, at a meeting in Hurso near Dire-Dawa a new political party called the Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL) was founded. This party claims to represent the objectives and needs of the Ethiopian-Somali people; giving particular attention to and observing the cultural and traditional practices of the people; and giving due regard to the local constitution (Heer). This new party aims to develop a stronger link with the Transitional Government in accordance with Article 9, Title 6 of the ESDL constitution which states: " I am fed up of my father and my father brought me his father! " states a Somali proverb. (Posted by guest: shalac) (Posted by guest: sahal)

(Posted by guest: UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia Field Trip Report Jijiga 22 to 29 April 1994 http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/jijigmay.htm The Horyaal Democratic Party was founded by the Dir Gadabursi clan; their area of influence straddles the Somaliland border and incorporated the Dire Dawa, Jijiga and the Awbar zones. On 9 February 1994, at a meeting in Hurso near Dire-Dawa a new political party called the Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL) was founded. This party claims to represent the objectives and needs of the Ethiopian-Somali people; giving particular attention to and observing the cultural and traditional practices of the people; and giving due regard to the local constitution (Heer). This new party aims to develop a stronger link with the Transitional Government in accordance with Article 9, Title 6 of the ESDL constitution which states: " I am fed up of my father and my father brought me his father! " states a Somali proverb. (Posted by guest: shalac) )

waxad tagtaa bogga Gurgure yarekoo reer Itobiya leh. Wuu isku dhacayaa. 1) Yahoo tag. 2)Gurgure dir (teebgaree) dhac wuu kuu soo bodaa.

(Posted by guest: Ali yare)

Hishiis kadhacay Magaalada Caabudwaaq iyo Arimaha Xeraale oo sii xumaanaysa. Dhuusamareeb Feb-19-04, Xeraale.com Maanta oo ay Taariikhdu tahay 2-18-04 Ayaa Idaacada BBCda sheegtay " in heshiis wayn uu ka dhacay Magaalada Caabudwaaq, heshiiskaa oo dhexmaray Labo Beelood oo katirsan Beesha Mareexaan." Hadaba beelahaa hishiiyay ayaa Dagaalkoodii ahaa Midkii hakiyay Dagaalkii Beesha Mareexaan ay kula jirtay Beesha Faqi-Muxamed (Degaanka Xeraale). Waxaan qadka Telefoonka kula hadalnay Odayaal waaweyn oo katirsan Beesha FaqiMuxamed oo jooga Magaalada Dhuusamareeb, waxayna inoo sheegeen in heshiiskaa uu ahaa mid ay Beesha Mareexaan ku heshiiyeen in ay midoobaan isla markaana ay howshoodii(Dagaalkoodii) meesha ay ka wataan. Odayaashaasha waxay intaa ku dareen in Shalayto ay isku dhaceen ciidamo ilaalo ah kaasoo Qasaare iyo dhaawac u gaytay Beesha Mareexaan. Waxay kaloo intaas ku dareen in Ciidamada laba Beelood ay isku horfadhiyaan labo meelood oo isu muuqda, Waxayna yiraahdeen hadii aan lahelin cidkala dhexgala waxaa macquul ah in ay sifudud iskugu dhicaan ciidamada. Ilaa iyo Iminka lama sheegin wax waan waan ah oo kadhexsocda labada beelood iyo wax hadal haya intaba. Inkastoo Beesha Mareexaan ay horey ugu gacan sayrtay Culumaa'udiinadii, Suldaamadii, Nabadoonadii, iyo waxgaradkii isugu Jiray Beelaha wada dega Gobolka Galguduud ayaa wax rajo waan waan ah aan wali laga heyn, Halka Beesha Faqi-Muxamed ay Diyaar u yihiin heshiisiin dhexmarta iyaga iyo Beesha Mareexaan. Dadka Degan Dagaanka Xeraale iyo kuwii ka qaxay Dagaaladii Kadhacay Halkaa ayaa iyagu aad u dhibaataysan oo cabsi weyna kaqabo dagaalo kale oo halkaa kadhaca. Dad ka soo waramay Xaaladaha Dadkii ka qaxay Dagaaladaa ayaa aad aga deyriyay oo Sheegay Dadka qaarkood oo u badan Caruur iyo dumar ayaa Caafimaadkoodu aad u liitaa Waxayna yiraahdeen "hadii aan Hey'adaha Samafalka Aduunka soo gaarin Dadkaa Qatar weyn ayay ku sugan yihiin. Maxamed Abdi. Xeraale.com/Dhuusamareeb Dad gaaraya ilaa iyo 3500 oo qof ayaa waxay ku dhibaataysan yihiin Degaanka Xeraale Iyo Degmooyinka Dariska La’ah. Muqdisho, Soomaaliya. Feb-4-04 Warar naga soo gaaray Degaanka Xeraale iyo Degmooyinka dariska la ah ayaa sheegaya in dad tiradooda ay gaareyso ilaa 3500 oo qof ay ku dhibaataysan yihiin Halkaas. Dadkaas oo ka qaxay Dagaalo goos goos ah oo kadhacaya Degaankooda (Xeraale) ayaa ku kala daadsan Degmooyinka Boholo, Dhuusomareeb, Huurshe, Mayeeraan, Iyo Qod-qod. Afhayeen u hadlay Dadkaasi ayaa waxa uu u sheegay qaarkamid ah warfidiyeenada in dadkan ay mudo Sedeed bilood ah qoxooti yihiin oo aanay jirin haba yaraatee wax hay’ad samofal Bini aadanimo ah u fidiyay dadkaasi. Waxaa uu Afhayeenka intaa ku daray in dadkaasi ay u badan yihiin Caruur iyo Dumar ay aad ugu baahan yihiin Daryeel Caafimaadka iyo Raashin ay cunaan. Waxaa kalee uu afhayeenku u sheegay warfidiyeenada in hadii aanay Hay’adaha Samofalka Aduunka u soo Gurman dadkaan ay Halis ugu Jiraan Gaajo iyo Cuduro. Dagaalladii kadhacay Deegaanka Xeraale ayaa ahaa mid aad iyo aad u foolxun oo sababay Dhimasho iyo Dhaawac aad u farabadan. Maxamed Ali oo ku magacdheer (Shabeel ) ayaa waxa uu warfidiyeenada u sheegay in Dagaalka kadhexeeya Beelahan uu sii daba dheeraanayo oo weliba Ciidamadooda ay weli is hor fadhiyaan jiida hore. Wararka waxay intaasi ku darayaan in Waxgaradka iyo Ganacsatada kasoo jeeda Degaanada Dhuusamareeb, Cadaado, Guraceel iyo Ceeldheer oo isku dayeey inay soo Afjaraan coolaadaasi ay ku guuldareysteen oo sheegay in Beesha kasoo jeeda Caabudwaaq ay ka biyo diidsan yihiin Hishiisiin. Wax garadka iyo Ganacsatada ayaa sheegay in hadana ay ku rajo wayn yihiin inay soo Afjaraan dagaaladaasi. Cabdiraxmaan Abdi Muqdisho, Soomaliya Nin lagu dilay agagaarka Baar ubax Dagaalada Mudug Awgood Muqdisho, Somaliya. Waxaa maanta lagu dilay meel udhow baar ubax nin dhailnyaro ah oo lagu magacaabi jiray indhobohol Diiriye Faarax,dad ka agdhawaa meesha lagu dilay marxuumka waxay ii sheegeen in dhalinyaro hubaysane ay kala soo degeen baabuur uu saarnaa oo ahaa kuwa loo yaqaan BLka isla markiina waxay ku fureen rasaas ilaa ay naftu ka baxdo.Waxaana la xaqiijiyay in arrintu tahay ninka ladilay beeshuu ka dhashay iyo kuwa wax dilay in dagaal kharaari ku dhexmaray Golol oo ka tirsan gobalka Mudug gaar ahaan degmada Jiriiban,taasoo dad badani maanta fajac ku noqotay in dagaalkii baadiyaha la keeno magaalada Muqdisho.waana markii u horaysay oo labadaa beelood ay dad isaga dilaan magaalada Xamar iyadoo dagaalkoodu usocday in ka badan afar sano. Odayaal iyo waxgarad kasoo jeeda degaanka Golol ayaa cambaareyey Dilkaas Foosha xun,waxayna codsadeen in si wadajira loo soo qabto kuwii gaystey dilkaas oo aan loo eegin haybtay yihiin lana horkeeno shareecada islaamka si loo yareeyo kuwa caadaystay in ay dadka walaalaha ah isku diraan oo dhibaato hor leh ka dhexabuuraan,iyadoo hore loogu guulaystay in xabadii ka dhexsocotay labada beelood la joojiyo wada hadalna uu uga socday magaalada Gaalkacyo ,Dhacdadaan oo aad mooddo inay dhabarjab ku tahay waxgaradkii waanwaanta ka waday gobalka Mudug. Xeraale.com

(Posted by guest: XEERAL.COM)

Faahfaahin ku saabsan dagaalkii lagu hoobtay ee Xeraale MOGADISHU, 16 Dec 2003 (MOL) - Wararka naga soo gaaraya magaalada xeraale ee gobalka galgaduud waxay shegayaan in saakay saacaddu markay ahayd 6-dii subaxnimo waqtiga geeska afrika uu halkaas dagaal aad culusi ku dhexmaray labada beelood ee mareexaan iyo Fiqimuxumd(Dir), ka gadaal markii beeli soo qaaday duulaanka ayadoo aan ku qanacsanayn waan waan ay ka dhexwadeen masuuliyiin iyo waxgarad kale oo la degan degaanka . Wararka lagu helayo fooniyaha waxay sheegayaan in ugu yaraan 45 qof ay ku dhinteen dagaalkaas, in ka badan 75 kalena ku dhaawacmeen, waxay kaloo sheegayaan wararku in dagaalka loo adeegsay hubkii dowladii hore oo ay kamid yihiin beebayaal iyo gawaarida gaashaaman, ayadoo mid ka mid ah beelaha halkaas ku dagalmaya ay maanta saxaafadda usheegtay inay ka qabsadeen waxay ugu yeereen kuwii soo duulay 4 beebe iyo hal dhesheeke, iyo ugu yaraan 20 qoryaha fududa. Sida laga warqabo dagaal dad badani ku riiqdeen ayaa labadaas beelood ku dhexmarayay aagaas, kaasoo markiisii hore ka bilowday aano qabiil oo nin ganacsada ah lagu dilay magaalada Caabudwaaq, taasoo waxba kasuuroobi wayday dhexdhexaadin ay isku xilsaareen culumaaudiin iyo waxgarad isxilqaamay, dagaalka maanta ayaa lagu tilmaamay kii ugu kharasaaraha badnaa tan iyo intii ay beelahaasi coloobeen horaantii sanadkan. Cabdi Xasan Mudugonline.com/Muqdisho

(Posted by guest: x.x)

In fact, in 1905, "the Commercial Company Leonardi" and subsequently " the Milanese Society of Benadir" were constituted. During this period of almost over 21 years, the colonial forces of Britain (in Northern Somalia) and Italy fought the rebel forces of Biyamal and Sayid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan in parts of Northwestern and Northeastern Somalia. The Biyamal forces stopped the Italian forces from disembarking in the harbor of Merca for nearly 15 years. On March 20 near Bulo Burti (Hiran region), fighting between 2 Dir sub-clans resulted in the deaths of at least 20 persons and injuries to 10 others. ACRONYMS: SACB - Somalia Aid Coordination Body SAMO - Somali African Muki Organisation SDA - Somali Democratic Alliance SDM - Somali Democratic Movement SLA - Somali Liberation Army SNA - Somali National Alliance SNDU - Somali National Democratic Union SNF - Somali National Front SNM - Somali National Movement SNU - Somali National Union SORRA - Somali Relief and Rehabilitation Agency SPM - Somali Patriotic Movement SSA - Somali Salvation Alliance SSDF - Somali Salvation Democratic Front SSNM - Southern Somali National Movement USC - United Somali Congress USF - United Somali Front USP - United Somali Party

(Posted by guest: Ali yare)