The Scarcity of Land in Somalia Natural Resources and their Role in the Somali Confl ict Occasional Paper April 2009 Occasional Paper III The Scarcity of Land in Somalia Natural Resources and their Role in the Somali Conflict Dustin Dehérez Director of Northeast-African Studies Düsseldorf Institute for Foreign and Security Policy (DIAS) April 2009 The responsibility for contents and views expressed in this Occasional Paper lies entirely with the author INTERNATIONALES KONVERSIONSZENTRUM BONN - An der Elisabethkirche 25 BONN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR CONVERSION (BICC) GMBH D - 53113 Bonn Tel.: 0228-911 96-0 Geschäftsführer: Peter J. Croll Fax: 0228-24 12 15 Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender: Staatssekretär Dr. Michael Stückradt E-Mail:
[email protected] Handelsregister: Bonn HRB 6717 Internet: www.bicc.de Contents Introduction 6 Traditional conflict resolution in the clan-based society of Somalia 7 Land as a natural resource and its role in the Somali civil war 9 Conclusion 11 References 14 About BICC 16 5 The Scarcity of Land in Somalia Natural Resources and their Role in the Somali Conflict Introduction proposed by this Occasional Paper, might illuminate one of the underlying roots of n the past years, Somalia has become the conflict and state failure and might also help I most prominent example of state-failure in address central problems to conflict Sub-Saharan Africa. It is important to note, resolution in Somalia. It is the thesis of this however, that not the entire country is Paper that in the fertile riverine areas of plagued by the breakdown of civil and state southern Somalia, natural resources and order.