1 THE HOMOGENEITY OF THE SOMALI PEOPLE: A STUDY OF THE SOMALI BANTU ETHNIC COMMUNITY By Mohamed A. Eno Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Studies Education. 2005 (i) 2 DECLARATION I, Mohamed Abdulkadir Eno, declare that no part of this dissertation has been submitted for any award other than this degree, according to the best of my knowledge, unless such references were duly acknowledged. Signed: ------------------------- Mohamed Abdulkadir Eno (ii) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Learning for a higher degree makes one indebted to many people for the variety of their contributions. Accordingly, I am particularly indebted to Lydiah S. Wanjiku and Rowda Hussein for their unreserved assistance during the period of writing this dissertation. For academic supervision, my Course Director, Dr. David Le Cornu, has been my inspiration throughout this challenging task, providing prompt suggestions and insights when and where appropriate. 3 I appreciate scholar Omar A. Eno’s inspiration and belief in my potential as it was his moral and material support that enabled me to read for this higher degree. For their constant encouragement, I am indebted to Prof. Abdi M. Kusow, Prof. Ali Jimale Ahmed, Prof. Mohamed H. Mukhtar, scholar Anthony Osambo, Eng. Abdullahi Mohamoud Warsame alias Adde Duqow, Mberwa Muya Mberwa, Omar Muya Mberwa, Aheda Mkomwa, Mwalimu Nuru, Fatma Mussa, Dahir A. Eno alias Jomo, Mwalimu Hamadi, Mariam A Enow, Saida A. Enow, Batula A. Enow, Naima A. Enow, Mohamed Yusuf Harganti, Ismail Abdi Issa alias Abaluu, Jamal H. Mohamed alias Salad and Ali Mohamoud Osman and his family. I need to acknowledge my appreciation to all the oral historians, traditionists and poets who educated me through the long journey into their vast knowledge of the history and literature of the Bantu/Jareer people in Somalia. I am indebted to my mother, poetess Halima Hussein Hassan, for the provision of historical poetry and clarification of various events in the history of the Jareer people, particularly the inhabitants of Afgoie. Finally, to all those who assisted me in one-way or another during my study, but unnamed here, please accept my utmost appreciation. (iii) DEDICATION This Dissertation is dedicated to ‘LOOMA-OOYEYAASHA’, in other words the oppressed autochthons of Somalia known as the Jareer/Bantu Negroid, and all the ethnically marginalized and stigmatized people in the world. 4 (iv) 5 Note: 1. The district capitals, district boundaries and the main roads are not shown in this Map, as they do not serve any purpose of the study. 2. From Hiran region down south to the Lower Jubba region is the territory where the Bantu/Jareer people of Somalia are the dominant settlers. (v) 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration …………………………………………………………………………… (i) Acknowledgement ……………………………………………………………………. (ii) Dedication…………………………………………………………………………….. (iii) Map of Somalia ………………………………………………………………………. (iv) Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………………. (v) Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………. 1 Part I …………………………………………………………………………………… 2 Chapter One ………………………………………………………………………….. 2 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….. 2 Background to the Study ……………………………………………………………… 8 Method of Study ………………………………………………………………………. 9 Constraints ……………………………………………………………………………. 10 Oral Traditions/Oral History and Scope of the Study ……………………………… 13 Organization ………………………………………………………………………….. 16 Endnotes Chapter One………………………………………………………………. 18 Part II ………………………………………………………………………………… 20 Chapter two ………………………………………………………………………….. 20 An introduction to the Non-Bantu Somali People …………………………………. 20 Versions of inconsistent Traditions ………………………………………………… 21 The Digil-Mirifle/Sab Group …………………………………………………………. 34 Horn Culture in Context ………………………………………………………………. 40 ‘Tuf’ (Blessed Spit) ……………………………………………………………………. 40 ‘Megel’ (real man/worthy man) ………………………………………………………. 41 Arbaca Mugdi u dambeeyso ………………………………………………………… 41 Dabshidka …………………………………………………………………………….. 42 The Hawiye ……………………………………………………………………………. 50 The Outcaste Groups ………………………………………………………………… 53 The Asharaaf …………………………………………………………………………… 61 Coastal Dwellers ………………………………………………………………………. 64 The Barawaan …………………………………………………………………………. 64 The Banaadiri …………………………………………………………………………. 67 The Bajuuni …………………………………………………………………………….. 69 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………… 70 Endnotes Chapter Two ………………………………………………………………. 70 Chapter Three ………………………………………………………………………… 80 The Ethno-History of the Somali Bantu/Jareer People …………………………… 80 Somali (Bantu Etymology) ……………………………………………………………. 86 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….. 121 Endnotes Chapter Three ……………………………………………………………… 122 Chapter Four ………………………………………………………………………… 130 Contemporary Somalia and the Stigmatization of the Bantu/Jareer Community … 130 The Colonial Occupation: From Slavery to Slavery ………………………………… 130 Slavery Scandal and Somali Sheikhs’ Resistance to Abolition…………………… 139 Sheikh Hassan Barsane’s Resistance to the Abolition of Slavery ………………. 142 7 Italy and the Expropriation of Bantu Land ………………………………………….. 145 Somali Nationalism: Cloudy Clanism ………………………………………………. 147 Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Ghazi (Gurey): Identity Amendment or Historical Error ………. 149 Mohamed Abdulle Hassan: Mad Mullah or Macabre madness? ………………… 150 The Other Version About Sayid-ka …………………………………………………. 151 Hawo Osman Tako ………………………………………………………………….. 156 The Subtlety of Somali Nationalism ………………………………………………… 160 The Somali Youth League ……………………………………………………………. 166 Post-Colonial Somalia and the Jareer Stigma: From Colonialism to Neocolonialism …………………………………………………………………………. 177 From Dubious Democracy to Dictatorship …………………………………………… 197 The Somali Script ……………………………………………………………………… 202 The Cold War ………………………………………………………………………….. 206 “No equality for the ‘Adoon’” ………………………………………………………… 211 The Civil War: Doom of Doom of Darood Dynasty or Hollowness of Hawiye Hegemony? ……………………………………………………………………………. 216 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….. 223 Endnotes Chapter Four ……………………………………………………………….. 223 Chapter Five …………………………………………………………………………… 237 The Plight of the Somali Refugees in Kenya: Special Focus on the Bantu/Jareer People ………………………………………………………………………………….. 237 The Mass exodus ………………………………………………………………………. 237 Life in a Refugee Camp ………………………………………………………………. 240 Advantages of the Swaleh Nguru Camp (Utange) and the Reasons Apparent…. 243 Closure of the Coastal Camps …………………………………………………………. 244 Clan Stratification and Struggle for Supremacy in the Refugee Camps ………… 247 UNHCR Repatriations: Voluntary or Tricky? ………………………………………… 251 Refugee Resettlement: Lucrative Business for UNHCR Staff Syndicate ………. 254 Somali Bantu resettlement in the USA and the Creation of Awareness on their Plight ……………………………………………………………………………… 257 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………… 265 Endnotes Chapter Five ………………………………………………………………… 267 Chapter Six ……………………………………………………………………………. 272 The 14th Somali National Reconciliation Conference and the 4.5 Clan Power Sharing Formula: Legitimization of an Apartheid Syndrome ……………………. 272 Conflicting Agendas Inside a Conflict………………………………………………. 272 Clanism at the Heart of Intellectualism ……………………………………………. 277 Four Communities and a Mesh of ‘Half’ of a Community: The Meaning of “Equality” and “Justice” in Somali Social Psychology ………………………………. 280 The Myth of Somali majority Clans: baseless Pastoral Fabrication ……………… 286 Myths, Concoctions, Crave and Cowardice ………………………………………… 289 Strata Awareness at Childhood ……………………………………………………….. 294 Commotion and Disorder: The Enigma of an Amorphous Reconciliation Conference ……………………………………………………………………………… 296 Deficiencies Disdained …………………………………………………………………. 301 Extrinsic Moral Integrity Versus Intrinsic Moral Hypocrisy: A Paradigmatic Somali Social Behaviour ……………………………………………………………………… 302 Maay and Maxaatiri Languages: As Equal as Different …………………………… 312 Somali National Reconciliation Conference or Southern Somali State Formation Conference? …………………………………………………………………………. 314 The Missed Points ………………………………………………………………….. 317 8 Reconciliation of Retrogression ……………………………………………………. 319 The IGAD Role in the Emergence of New Alliances in the Conference ………… 321 IGAD and factional Relationship …………………………………………………… 323 Daarood ……………………………………………………………………………… 323 The Marginalized/Oppressed ‘Less’ Somali Communities ………………………… 324 Project 14 ……………………………………………………………………………… 325 The Negative Implication of an Anticipated Conference Failure ………………… 326 The International Community ………………………………………………………… 327 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….. 330 Endnotes Chapter Six ………………………………………………………………… 331 Part III ……………………………………………………………………………….. 339 Chapter Seven ……………………………………………………………………….. 339 Amid Ethnic Marginalization and Identity Confusion: Who is a Somali and what Determines Somaliness? ……………………………………………………………….. 339 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………… 359 Endnotes: Chapter Seven …………………………………………………………… 360 Chapter Eight ………………………………………………………………………….. 363 Introduction to the Survey ……………………………………………………………. 363 Racial Discrimination in the Underbelly of Racial Homogenization: Unearthing the Untold Apartheid………………………………………………………………………. 363 Method of Study ………………………………………………………………………. 364 Validity and Reliability ……………………………………………………………….. 365 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………... 367 Apartheid and Abuse of Bantu/Jareer Rights: Survey Findings and Results (with illustrations in Tables and Charts …………………………………………… 368 Personal Data ………………………………………………………………………… 368 Analysis