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The Heritage of War and State Collapse in Somalia and Somaliland

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The Heritage of War and State Collapse in Somalia and Somaliland ThirdW orldQu arterly,V ol20,No1,pp113±127,1999 Theheritageofwarandstatecollapse inSomalia andSomaliland: local-leveleffects, external interventionsandreconstruction ISMAILI AHMED&REGINALDHERBOLDGREEN If youw anttod ismantlea hedge, Removeonethornbushat a time. Somalip roverb ABSTRACT Somaliaa ndS omalilandareb othin habitedb asicallyb ySomalisÐ withsm allOrom ominoritiesin b oth,an dalargeSwahilimin orityin th elatter. Bothhavem ultipleclans,su b-clans,lin eagea ndb loodgroupsandinb othIslam iscentraltosocialvalues.S omaliah adnohistoryo fastablestatebeforeIta lian ruleb utSomalilanddid(H aud-Hargeisa-Berbera-Arabiatra deaxiscen tred). TheUnitedR epublico fSomalia(rejec tedin the referen dumb ySomaliland) passedfro mpoliticalinstabilityto tw odecadeso fSaidB arre’sincreasingly centraliseda ndrep ressived ictatorshipw hichw agedw aragainstth eNorth-west (Somaliland)andNorth-east(B osaso)aswella sagainstE thiopia.Thedictator- shipco llapsedin 1 991basicallyb ecauseof th e1987±91S omalilandLiberation war.T heeconomieso fSomalia/Somalilandturnon p astoralproduction,co m- mercea ndremittances.T heseh avereco veredin p artin S omaliaan dfullyin Somaliland.However,o nlyafractiono ftheBarrereg imesd issolutionofservice deliveryanduser friendlyla wandorderca picityh asbeenm adegoodin Somalilandandvirtuallym orein S omalia.USA/UN interventiondidlim it starvationandÐforatimeÐopen vio lence.T hatwasata highcostin ® nances, inth ereputationofpeacekeepingandtoS omalis.U NOSOMansweredp olitical andcivilqu estionsbeforeh avinganyrealgraspo fcivil,po liticalandeconomic realities.Th epricew astoentren chw arlordsandmiliti asandto m arginalise `peacelords’ (eldersa ndmerchants).So maliland,neveroccu piedby U NOSOM, hasengagedin a serieso flarge,lo ngp eaceco nferencesof eld ersfro mallparts ofitsterrito rylea dingtoa realiffra gilen ational/territorialidentityw ith personalsecurityin m osta reas,a nelectedpresidentandtw ohousepa rliament, auserfrien dlyp olicefo rcea ndcourtsystem a ndthebeginningsofa restored professionalcivilservice . Ismail IAhmedand ReginaldHerbold Green are bothat theInstitut eforDevelopmentStudies, Sussex University, BrightonB N1 9RE,UK. 0143-6597/99/010113-13 $7.00 Ó 1999 Third World Quarterly 113 ISMAILI AHMED &REGINALDHERBOLDG REEN Earlypo liticalhistoryan dsocialstructure Forcenturiesn omadicp astoralismp rovideda livelihoodtoth eSomalip eoplein theHorno fAfrica.B eforethecolonialp artitionoftheSomali`terri tories’in th e middleo fthe19thcen tury,thehistoryo ftheregionh adb eend ominatedb y massivemigrationofS omalisin toareas o riginallyin habitedb yother popula- tions.B ysuccessfullycaptu ringlarg epartsof A byssiniau nder theg uidanceo f AhmedG ran(1 506±43), Somaliclan sjoinedto realise a commoncausefo rthe ®rst time.B utthesubsequentevaporationofthenewlyex pandedstate an dits highlandco nquestsÐwh ichreache dwithin5 0mileso fpresent-dayA ddis AbabaÐfo reshadowedth eimplausibilityo fastrongstate en duringwithinth e realitieso fSomalinatio nalidentity.T here isevidenceth attheearliestcity -states scatteredalo ngtheE asternS omalish ores emergedwith distin ctSw ahiliA rab in¯ uences. TheSomaliso cialan dpoliticalstructureconsists,lo osely,o fclanfam iliesan d clanswhichsu bdivideintosu b-clans,p rimarylineag es,an d`dia-paying’groups. Thedia-payinggroup( Jilib/Bah)isth emoststab leun itw itha membershipo f groupso ffamiliesran gingfromafew hundredto m ore thana thousand.The members ofeach d ia-payinggrouphaveanin formalco ntractualag reementto support oneanother andtosh are payments.T heterm ` dia-paying’impliesth at familiesw ithinth egrouphaveacollectiveresponsibilityfo rsettlingacts committedby ,orag ainst,th eirm embers. Membershipin a cland oesn ot automaticallyg iveonecertai nrightsan dobligations,rath er theyare negotiated andagreedin u nwrittenco ntracts.Thegroupsrarelyh avesingle`trad itional leaders’,optinginsteadfo racouncilo felders whohavecollectiveresponsibil- ities.T hroughoutth ecolonialad ministration,elders were appointedan dpaidto actas th elegitimaterep resentativeso ftheirresp ectiveg roups. Thed ia-payingg roupsalsofu nctionasm utualaid g roupsduringperiodsof emergency.Members haveanob ligationbothto h elptho sew hoare undergoing severeh ardshipd uringcrisesand to ob servetraditionalw ealth-sharingmecha- nisms.In tim eso fcrisis,each m ember isex pectedto ob serveanapp ropriate codeofconduct.T hism anifestsitself in activ itiessu chas m ixedh erding,loan sharing, Xoola Goyn (givinganim als),an dalmsgiving.Suchcop ingstrategies can,uptoa point,effect ivelylim itin dividualrisk sandfacili taterehab ilitation after periodsofcrises. Understandingso cialdivisionsand state collapse Amajorityo fthem ore recentexaminationsoftheSomalip oliticalcrisisare basedo nfallaciesan dsimplisticg eneralisationsofthe sup posedu niquenesso f theSomalipeo pleas a culturallyho mogenousentity. 1 Theyoften ten dtofall intoa reductionisttrap ,ignoringtheintricaciesof S omalip oliticalreality,w hile engagingina one-dimensionalex plorationof`con¯ictb asedo nclanship’.The classicalarg umentisth atall S omalipeo pleb elongtoo neethnicg roup,speak thesamelanguage,fo llowthe sam ereligionandshare th esameculture and tradition.However, acloser examinationo fthisasserti onshowsthatit is inaccurateand m isleading.AccordingtoM ukhtar,it is a mythin ventedb y 114 THEHE RITAGEOF W ARANDST ATECOLLAPSEIN S OMALIAA NDSOMALILAND outsiders. Somaliso cietyh asalway sbeendiv idedin ton omadicpasto ralistsin thenorthan dsouthernag ro-pastoralists`w hichh avedistinctivelyd ifferent cultural,lin guistic,and so cialstru ctures’. 2 Theimportanceo flivestockin relationto subsistenceag ricultureisregionallyv ariable;w ithru ralh ouseholdsin thesouthdep endingonagriculture andnortherners relyingm oreo nremittances andlivestock.Indeed,peopleinh abitingth einter-riverineregionssp eaka differentlanguage,k nownas Mai Mai,acombinationofco lloquiallo cal dialects,Sw ahilian dSomali.T hroughoutthecolonialperio d,there alsog rew up distinctterrit orial,lin guistican dadministrativetraditionsin th eoriginalterrit o- ries.T heirof® cial lan guagesw ere Frenchin D jibouti,A mharicin E thiopia, Englishin S omaliland,ItalianinSo maliaan dSwahilian dEnglishin th e NFD (NorthwestFro ntierD istrict).Moreover,so meterritorialb oundariesalso ro ughly correspondedto clan b oundaries. Concentratingex clusivelyo nclansandlineagestru ctures,manyobservers haveelevatedclansh ipto the m ostd ominantfactorinth eanalysiso fthecurrent crisis.3 Understandingclan an dlineageinth econtemporary Somalipo litics, whilen ecessary,is n otsuf® cienttoun locktheir social an dpoliticalorganisation. Elaboratech artsillu stratingclangen ealogy,su perimposedo ver acronymsofthe manyfactions,litter the litera ture onSomalisociet y.Thesech artsh avebecome ano perationallex iconformanyagencies,im periouslyd isplayedin v irtually everyreg ional NGO orUNof® ce.In deed,v isitors oftenu seth em as`ro admaps’. Understandingstateco llapsein S omaliareq uireslo okingbeyondclanismand ongoingfactio nalin trigue,w hichis a symptomofstateco llapserath er thanits cause. Thequestionofthecompatibilityof theSomaliciv ilsocietystruct urewithth e postcolonial(cen tralised)state h asrecen tlyfeatu redin so meanalyseso fthe Somalistate co llapse. 4 It isarg uedth atinstit utionalstru ctures thatinco rporated conceptsen tirelyalien to th eexistingSomaliin stitutionswere imposedu nder colonialru le.A saresult,adiscrepancyem ergedb etweenthe h ighlyd ecen- tralisedp astoralstru ctures andthehighlycen traln ature ofthepostcolonialstate. Itisn otsimplya coincidenceth atthestrongestop positionto thecentralisedstate hasco mefrom thenorth,where apastoralm odeo fproductionisstill p redomi- nant.T hisincompatibilityw asin tensi®ed b ythetransfer ofpower andauthority frompastoralgro upstocen tralisedandu rban-basedp oliticalstructures. Asa result,p astoralismw as`treat edless as a distinctw ayof life an dmoreas an economicresou rce tobe tap ped’. 5 Others disagreewithth isapproachof analysis,d escribingitas `historical’an d notparticularlyreleva nttocurren tproblems,as it assu mesthat th esocial structure oftheSomaliso cietyrem ainedin tactfo llowingitsinteg rationintoth e worldeco nomy. 6 Theyargu ethatth e`contemporary’commercialisationof pastoralismtran sformedso cietyas early as th e1920s,an dthattrad itional structures havech angedeven m ore dramaticallysin cein dependence. Seriouseconomicm ismanagementhasalso p layeda keyro leand h asb een oneoftheinstrumentalcau seso fstateco llapse. 7 Sinceab andoningtheexper- imentofScienti®c Socialismin 1 980,thegovernmentlackeda coherent developmentstrategy.Its macroeconomicp olicyw asd escribedas `errat ic, inconsistent,andoftenm ovedfro moneset o fobjectivesto an other,th ereby 115 ISMAILI AHMED &REGINALDHERBOLDG REEN confusingth edomesticm arket’. 8 In1 990theexternald ebtwas$U S1.9b illion, whichw aseq uivalentto3 60%of GDP,excluding`fro zend ebt’to som eeastern Europecountries. 9 Thep ublicsector crisis orig inatedfro mmassiveexpenditure ondefenceand secu rityservic es. Thereg imewasalso h ighlysu ccessfulino btainingmilitarysupport.So malia waso neofthemostheav ilym ilitarisedstates in A frica ando neofthetop recipientso fUSandSo vietm ilitaryaidd uringtheColdW ar. 10 Moreover,m ore than8 0%ofrefugeeaid ,whichin 1 986together witho ther non-militaryaid 11 accountedfo r25%of GNP,wasd ivertedto th earmy. Originsof th econ¯ict Ahastyu nion Arootcauseo fthecrisiscan b etracedto the rap idu nionofthetwoSomali territoriesto fo rm the`United’Somalistate in 1 960.Soonafter
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