The impact of conflict on Somali women

Somalia was formed by the union of Italian Somalia and the British Somaliland protectorate, after gained independence in 1960. The main legacy of colonial rule was a centralized system of government which the military, under General Mohammed Siyad Barre, seized in 1969, after nine years of democratic elections and amid accusations of corruption. Barre adopted an anti-tribalism policy of ‘scientific socialism’ advocating popular participation through local councils and worker committees’.. It has been now without a central government after its last president Despot Mohamed S. Barre fled the country in 1991. Following, the fighting among warring groups and clan leaders resulted in the killing, raping, and displacement of the Somali community in whole especially in Mogadishu and Baidoa that led hunger of thousands of persons, which made later on an Intervention led by the United Nations peacekeeper.

Due to, without central administration system for the last four decades, and still the country is under different factional leader, thought there is a so called Somali federal government, but it controls less than 30 percent of the capital of the country and at the sometime, according to UNICEF Reports of 2010 ”indicates that the half of the population of estimated 3.6 Million people lives in a state of humanitarian emergency and over 1.5 million is burdened by violence and instability, extreme poverty, food insecurity due to drought and high prevalence of child protection violations, especially recruitment and use of children and youth in armed conflict as well as other form of sexual violence” .

Surprisingly the regions which called themselves by a state that succeeded from the rest of Somalia, like the Somaliland, have achieved a lot in aspects including political, security and economical development.

Somaliland has achieved many things that are including the recent free and fair election which was historically and that same in took place in 2003, April 14. With the emphasise on Security council report that states ”the presidential election- took place in Somaliland on 14 April 2003. That the three candidates representing three political parties were Somaliland’s incumbent -president, Dahir Riyale Kahin of the allied people’s democratic party (UDUB); Ahmed Muhammed silanyo, a veteran politician of the solidarity party (Kulmiye); and Faysal Ali Warabe, a civil engineer from the diaspora, of the justice and welfare party (UCID). On the 19th April the national electoral commission announced that incumbent ‘president’ Dahir Riyale had won the election by a margin og 80 votes out of almost 500,000 cast. and the recently election took in 26th June 2010 peacefully according the report issued by IRI-International Republican Institute ”Somaliland citizens remain committed to developing democratic institutions and carving out a peaceful, self-sufficient nation in the Horn of Africa.  For Somalilanders, the upcoming presidential election is a crucial step in their nation’s democratic development.”. However with this discussion the paper will look deeply in the case Somalia conflict and will it narrow toward the women regardless which situation they are the pre and post conflicts.

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The Conflict, Political and Security Impact on Somali women

This paper will focus the political history of Somali conflict, and this was very clear that the fighting had begun in the late 80s was mainly limited to the north. Where then the civil war spreads toward the south and middle regions including the capital of Mogadishu until the fighting engulfed the whole country. Resulted the overthrown of Barre’s regime in January 1991.

Somali was under military regime that has been leading the country from 1969 to 1991, creates a platform of balanced gender in Somalia, ”and number of international conventions were adopted relating to the rights Somali women including the convention of the elimination of all forums to discrimination against women, but none has been signed or ratified”.

Somali women were enjoying at that time their roles as a citizen. Barre’s administration issue law that made both gender to be the same under the law, and give the women same right and opportunity as men do and that led women to became and hold such as the highest ranks in the administration, their ranks were varies from profession to profession such as colonels, pilots, ambassadors and as well as judges.

This paper will argue that gender was equal under the Somali law thought there was a cultural and religion misconceptions within the Somali society that were in place. The emergencies situation discourses in Somalia due to the civil war and famine have created less struggles toward in the long and short-term on human development and the empowerment of women. The prolonged civil war, food insecurity and the Islamic secularism threat have turned into the women more vulnerable to political and economic insecurities than men.

According to the June 2003 report of the Secretary General to the Security Council, which states ”that about 400,000 Somalis are refugees are in the neighboring countries while up to 370,000, are internally displaced have no basic human life support such as water, health and school facilities”. Women and children are made the majority of the internally displaced persons living in camps within the country and as well the neighboring countries.

While this paper argues that women became more stronger than they were, and the reason is that the life without the basic human support are entire critical to the human life to lives and the females faces daily such horrible man-made disaster and that they undergo daily consequential problem, which made them to be very strong and endurable to condition.

Somali women become more productive as their husbands, brother and sons joins the warring militias and being absent in their supporting, and with this reality women have gained greater responsibility in the micro economy in the country. Of course the larger businesses are controlled and run by men, but ”Recognition by women of the necessity of petty trading has also led to some co-operation, including that between women from different clans which will be important in future periods of peace and reconciliation. Women have pooled their resources and strengths, increasing the potential of their livelihood strategies. Women with some education assist illiterate women and groups have established small co-operatives. In many cases women are forced to hire men, often relatives, to protect their stores, sleep in shops and warehouses, activities which are socially precluded for women” (Bennett et al 1995).

Human rights violation and the violence against women

The challenge of civil war can be summarized as follows. Civil war imposes high costs on the warring people, especially the poor countries, and will impose even higher costs on future generation. It effects on education, health and infrastructure of the country, but it is wisely agreed that civil war causes not only destruction and wiping out of a complete generation, but also the impact on the sustainability on human and economy development. The wars are key that creates the human right abuses, violence against human and deeply effected on women and children, and it is therefore, widely known that militias and other gunmen in Somalia rapes women and girls of opposing clans and other vulnerable groups, particularly the internally displaced people such as the minority group of Bantu, Midgan, Tumal, Yibir, Bravanese and also wealthier Benadiri communities and according to a report issued on Wednesday 24 November 2010 ”minorities such as the Bantu and Gaboi suffer even more than the general population in war-torn Somalia, and this recently published news report reveals that, these groups suffer abuses including summary executions, beheadings and rape. This because they are not protected by the traditional powerful clan structure, quoted from the minority right group international. The Mark Lattimer, the group’s executive director, point out that the worst is definitely in south central Somalia, where much of the territory is more controlled by al shebaab, by Islamist militia, there are acute human rights abuses, including a great problem of the curtailment of religious freedom. Many traditional Somali Muslim religious practices are being suppressed by al shebaab. Who follow a very exclusionary ideology; He adds that his group has noted widespread rape as well as executions, torture, forcible displacement and expropriation of land.”, and this is why the ”conflict has led decreased mobility for Somali women due to the threat and fear of rape” .

So that human rights abuses in Somalia are unaccounted for and those who pay the prices are the minority clans especially those who do not have support with strong clan or military strength.

Women who have been raped suffer health issue related during their forced sexual assault. The stigmatization causes that the women cannot contacted or consulted with doctors after they have been raped, unless they have other serious injuries and this is a difficult to conceal by the doctor whether they have raped or not. Regarding to the Human right watch reports in 1994 that ”Somali women who have raped face not only the physical and psychological trauma of rape but also the likelihood of rejection by their families. The strong cultural stigma is attached to rape in Somalia. In numerous cases, families have begged UNHCR officials to take their daughter to another camp after she has been raped because of the stigma on the family”. Somalia Gender relation in pre-conflict Somalia was distinguished of culture in which men are the most powerful social system and that creates the gap between the genders in the terms of economy and political involvement.

Economic, security and rights

This paper will examine, that the Somali people has the highest illiteracy rate, and it is estimated that eighty percent are illiterate where ”17 percent of Somali children go to school and one in four men and 13 percent of Somali women are literate in today’s Somalia. A total of 81 percent can neither read nor write” (afrol news). And this indicates that Almost near now three generation of children has lost their education since the infrastructure collapsed in 1991.

The causative of the gender inequality in the educational system has vividly increased, where twice as many boys compared to girls entering primary school due to cash impoverished families choose to invest in sons over their daughters.

The other important issue that Somali community cannot survive economically is the narcotic chewing leave called Qaat. The Qaat has destroyed the relationship between the families and it creates that men usually consume this drug that they diverted the funds towards that addicted consumption.

Women and peace building

This paper examines the role and the participation of the Somali women and their traditional role. Traditionally in Somalia, women cannot stand for clans and are not even respected as a clan member that limits their involvement in the Somali political arena. On the other hand, this neutrality has given women greater opportunities to engage in cross clan coalition building. For example, ”at Arta Peace conference, women from different clan came together to form the sixth clan so women could participate formally in the peace negotiation”. Hence the Somali people are oral societies, both men and women, are highly regarded as orators. Women’s viewpoints are heard within the range of family and valued, even though, not frequently in community and public conferences. Women also lend a hand to the attempts for the peace reconciliation, by shaping the formal the ongoing peace and dialog processes, for example, ” marched up and down between the groups demonstrating and singing buraanbur or women’s poems”. Because, they are commonly have no problem and being envoy between the clans in the war. Somali women born naturally into one disputing clan and married into the other often deem loyalty for both clans and work firmly to lower tensions between them and at the same time women are dual connected morally with one tribe she is married and the one she born for, and this opportunity gives them to be free to move in the hostile areas.

and their involvement in Somaliland reconciliation ”women did everything we could stop the bloodletting that dragged on for a considerable time.” at the same time ”women were the wind behind the peace conference from A-Z in term of mobilizing the elders, in preparing the venue, the food, and in encouraging the participants to keep until the final peace accord was reached. So that they have all the credit in making peace possible (Dr Adan Yusuf Abokor, personal communication)” beside, between the peace and hostilities participation, Somali women may work out the disputes at the family stage and ensuring good, decent and fair relationships between her daughters and their husbands. Somali women are very good at settling down family issue, when the situation sometimes reaches that the family to break out, giving the kids the priority and helping finding solution to the issue within the family. Culturally it is a women’s role to provide for guests to her household, foods, and other necessary that guest need for their accommodations, travel etc and it is very skilful performance that women help and contribute to the needy families more than men in Somali society.

On the other hand the ”reconciliation conferences which took place in Somaliland during 1992, have remained male dominated activities in which women did not take a direct role. According to Farah (1993), northern Somali women enthusiastically support local forums but this support is confined to providing tradition domestic service. In the south, where the UN have facilitated high profile peace conferences, women have been present. However, women’s presence doesn’t necessarily represent participation”