|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Cousins and Gunmen: Crisis and Resilience in Somalia
| Article
# : |
12147 |
|
|
Section : |
CULTURE
|
| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1994 |
3,160 Words |
| Author
: |
Alfonso Peter Castro
Alfonso Peter Castro teaches anthropology at Syracuse
University. He worked with CARE in Somalia in the early 1980s. |
As international peacekeeping forces prepare to pull out of Somalia, a precarious peace is expected to settle on Mogadishu, capital of the former Somali Democratic Republic. For nearly two years the country has been without civil authority and has suffered from the ravages of warfare and severe drought. What is likely to be ahead for Somalia as its citizens seek to rebuild their lives and nation?
Somalia is the only country in East Africa composed of a single ethnic group. This ethnic unity is offset by the Somalis' division by kinship into clans. The recent violence in the country has crystallized along clan lines, but its roots go far beyond traditional rivalries. Nevertheless, violence has always played a part in Somali politics. Anthropologist I.M. Lewis, the leading scholar on Somalia, has noted that "the chief means by which the relations between groups are regulated" are feuds and wars. He adds, "The aim of aggression is not so much to subjugate enemies completely as to establish political ascendancy."
The role of violence needs to be seen in relation to cultural mechanisms of conflict resolution, especially the role of clan elders. Elders mediate disputes over local affairs, negotiating critical affairs such as blood money, rights to watering holes, and access to pasture. These negotiations often involve many people and occur over a protracted period. Lewis writes that the "customary processes of decision-making are democratic almost to the point of anarchy."
A problem with the Western media's recent coverage of Somalia has been the exclusive focus on clan fighting in Mogadishu, as if that reflected the situation in the entire country. Journalists have ignored how northern clan elders worked together to restore peace. Lewis succinctly comments that "this inexpensive, lowprofile indigenous peacemaking contrasts sharply with the costly, high-profile peace conferences orchestrated by the UN in southern Somalia." Thus, the clan system not only can generate conflict but also a framework for resolving it.
In the past, violence was usually small-scale and focused, involving in most instances the deaths of only a handful of individuals. Yet a chilling example in the Somali past reveals clan warfare's potential for reaching larger and more tragic proportions.
By 1910, the uprising of Sheik Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and his dervish followers had succeeded in driving the British colonial administration from the interior of northern
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
