The Situation in Galkayo, Somalia Briefing Paper Prepared by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Holland May 2004
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The Situation in Galkayo, Somalia Briefing Paper prepared by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Holland May 2004 The Netherlands Government has decided to repatriate Somali asylum seekers. MSF-Holland is concerned about the impact of such an action and we have chosen to speak out on this issue based on our direct experiences in Somalia. This paper includes quotes from residents of Galkayo Puntland representing different clans, as well as quotes from MSF national and international staff. The quotes are shown in italics. MSF’s Presence and Experience in Galkayo MSF-Holland has been working continuously in Galkayo since 1997. Support has been provided to Galkayo General Hospital, the principal referral hospital for Puntland, with more than 20,000 patients treated annually. While private health facilities have started activities in recent years, this hospital remains the only area health facility offering reliable, quality care that is free (making it accessible to the most vulnerable groups, mainly minorities and the internally displaced). MSF also supports a hospital in the south part of Galkayo. It is necessary to support two hospitals in the same town because Galkayo is split into two by a "Green Line" dividing two warring clans. Consequently, people from one side of the line cannot safely cross to the other side. MSF’s team comprises 10 expatriate medical staff based in Galkayo. The security situation in Puntland has not improved during 2004. It cannot be said to have altered in a fundamental, durable and effective way to justify the policy of forced returns. In 2003, Galkayo Hospital treated 961 victims of violent trauma, the majority of whom suffered gunshot injuries. Of these cases, 210 people required inpatient care and 67 or 7 % were children under five years of age. MSF’s Concerns MSF-Holland’s team in Galkayo is confronted daily with the extremely fragile security situation and the conflict’s victims. Based on our daily experiences, we do not share the conclusions and analyses contained in the latest Ambtsbericht (Algemeen Ambtsbericht Somalie Maart 2004). (Ambtsbericht pagina 53) In het eigen gebied is de (sub)clan in staat tegen dergelijke daden bescherming te bieden. Indien het eigen clangebied is gelegen in het crisis- of overgangsgebied kan hij/zij echter wel te vrezen hebben voor algehele onveiligheid als gevolg van conflicten met andere clans of banditisme. In het overgangs- en conflictgebied is de veiligheid vooralsnog onvoldoende gegarandeerd. In het ‘relatief veilige gebied’ van Somalië zijn de lokale en regionale besturen in het algemeen in staat de openbare orde te handhaven. Leden van de Darod, Hawiye, Issaq en Dir clanfamilies (de nomadische clanfamilies) kunnen zich in het algemeen veilig vestigen in het gehele woongebied van de eigen clanfamilie in het relatief veilige deel van het land, tenzij sprake is van ernstige, gewapende conflicten (elders in Somalië) in het heden of recente verleden binnen de clanfamilie. Ook kunnen zij zich in het algemeen veilig vestigen in gebieden waar andere clanfamilies de meerderheid uitmaken of politiek overheersen, tenzij sprake is van ernstige, gewapende conflicten (elders in Somalië) in het heden of verleden tussen betrokken clanfamilies.86 Bescherming door de eigen clan(familie) is dus niet in alle gevallen noodzakelijk. Als Somali zich vestigen in een gebied waar de eigen clan niet overheerst, wordt wel van hen verwacht dat zij zich aanpassen aan de bestaande machtsverhoudingen en dat zij zich niet politiek of economisch profileren. Although traditionally, Somali society consisted of clan groupings based on patrilineal descent from a common ancestor which supported each other in war and peace (i.e. economically); we believe that the disintegration of the Somali Republic and a decade of civil war have substantially transformed these relationships. The large-scale displacement of people within and beyond the boundaries of the former state has deeply modified the structure of clan kinship and clan ownership has lost importance in favour of control over resources. “Clan warfare...(in Somalia) offers few avenues of escape.… Denying that one belongs to a clan or that one shares that clan’s ambitions, is not possible.” (ICRC Somalia Country Report 1989, page 4). “Alliances between families and subclans shift so often that, in the words of a clan elder in Galkayo ‘You don’t know today who will be your enemy tomorrow.’” MSF Local Staff Member Among the Darot/Majerteen there are many subclans. The clans make alliances. Those alliances often shift. For example, the Majerteen/Issa Mahamoud clan in Central Puntland used to be an ally of Abdullahi Yusuf (Majerteen/Omar Mahamoud). When Jama Ali Jama (Majerteen/Osman Mahamoud) fought for power, they wanted to share power with him. After Abdullahi Yusuf restored order in Puntland, the Issa/Mahamoud became allied with Abdullahi Yusuf again. Alliances always shift due to interests and power. (Ambtsbericht pagina 45) In de Somalische cultuur wordt de afstamming langs de vaderlijke lijn bepaald en gaat de vrouw na het huwelijk bij de familie van de man wonen. Conform de islam mag de Somalische man met vier vrouwen gehuwd zijn. In de Somali clanfamilies werden huwelijken traditioneel gearrangeerd door oudere verwanten van de betrokkenen, maar 'samen vluchten' (ten minste de afstand die een kameel in drie dagen kan afleggen) is altijd veel voorgekomen. In de steden kiezen individuen tegenwoordig meer en meer hun eigen partner. De vrouw blijft na het huwelijk behoren tot de clan van haar vader, terwijl haar kinderen behoren tot de clan van haar man (hun vader). Na haar huwelijk staat de vrouw onder de zorg en bescherming van haar man en zijn clan, maar de banden met de eigen clan (en vooral de broer) blijven voor haar en haar kinderen belangrijk. In het geval de man overlijdt, wordt de vrouw gezamenlijk beschermd door haar broer en het nieuwe hoofd van de familie waartoe zij door huwelijk behoort. Traditioneel is het de plicht van de naaste mannelijke verwant van de overledene de vrouw te huwen (dumaal is de term voor een dergelijk huwelijk) en de verantwoordelijkheid voor de kinderen over te nemen. Huwelijken zijn in het algemeen instabiel en scheidingen komen veel voor. Gescheiden vrouwen hertrouwen veelal. (Ambtsbericht pagina 59) De in Somaliland en Puntland aanwezige minderheidsgroepen worden niet vervolgd en in het algemeen is hun veiligheid niet in gevaar. Wel is hun sociaal- economische situatie vaak hachelijk, dit wil zeggen dat zij vaak onvoldoende inkomen kunnen verwerven om in hun voedselbehoefte te voorzien, en worden zij gediscrimineerd, onder meer op het vlak van werk en toegang tot voorzieningen. Zij slagen er evenwel in het algemeen in om in hun levensonderhoud te voorzien door flexibel in te spelen op de lokale arbeidsmarkt en door allerlei soorten werk aan te pakken. Een aantal van hen is in staat relatief zelfstandig met hun vak een inkomen te verwerven 100. Nieuwkomers vinden veelal aansluiting bij leden van de desbetreffende minderheid indien die in enige getale aanwezig zijn. According to pre-war traditional rules and customs, unaligned people, including minority groups not belonging to any of the fighting clans, should be left unharmed. Another important traditional rule was the immunity given to women and children during fighting. They were protected by their own clan members. However, the civil war in Somalia unleashed unprecedented levels of violence and destruction that undermined the roots and power of religious beliefs and cultural values. A generation of former child-soldiers who grew up in an environment where weapons are the only law and the strongest rule, are now the new elders and war lords. This has led to the demise of rules or traditional customs in favour of chaos and brutality in which civilians are systematically targeted. According to ICRC Country Report for Somalia 1989: “In the last decades Somalis have come face to face with a new, unfamiliar kind of war – a war without limits and rules that has devastated their families and dismembered their nation. Clan warfare as practised by the warlords-backed militias has created a virtual draquet that has swept up civilians alongside combatants, leaving a trail of broken lives and shattered families.” (ICRC Somalia Country Report, 1989, page 4) In our hospital in Galkayo we experience the systematic and continuous targeting of women and minorities: “In the minorities’ settlements around the airport (of Galkayo) this is the time in the day militia groups pass by and start what they call ‘an open festival’: they ask the husbands to bring their wives, 10-15 women on the same line and they rape them, there, one after the other. At the end of the line, they start again from the beginning. Police is there all time, but what they can do? The militia is from the same clan of the police and they go and come back: it is like a tennis game, they go and come back, without rights.” MSF Expatriate Midwife, Saturday 22/05/04 at 20.30 Oji Ahmed Nur, MSF-Holland Health Advisor for the Bantu community in Galkayo reported, “Before seven days, May 17 2004 at 2200h, one Majerteen man came to the old maize factory ‘Warshada Galayda’ (IDP camp). Then he took one woman while on the same time he put a bayonet from his AK-47 in the head of her husband. He raped the woman. The community evacuated the compound after they saw the husband lying on the floor. We have treated the woman in the hospital in the maternity ward, we have given her some medicine. After that she has gone home. The husband was given dressing. He did not want to stay at the hospital because he was afraid that there his things would get stolen. Nobody can do anything. The rapist is a Majerteen and the police are Majerteen.