Oppressed in their homeland: The Plight of the Somali Banadiri Clan

[Deeq A.]

A symbol of Mogadishu: An iconic building in Shangani.

The Banadiri community in Somalia  — clan is the appropriate categorisation in the Somali political context — has long suffered dispossession, persecution and institutionalised political marginalisation. Their suffering is made worse by the silence of their compatriots from the politically and economically powerful Somali social groups.

The best way to make sense of their plight is to compare their predicament with their situation before Somalia imploded at the hands of clan-based, armed opposition groups that had taken up arms to overthrow the military regime (1969-1991).   Before 1991, their right to property was protected; their historic districts were not destroyed or turned into fiefdoms.

They (Banadiris) do not so much complain of the common civil war experience as the  policy to keep them politically and economically marginalised in their homeland. Hamarweyne and Shangaani, two historically Banadiri districts of Mogadishu, bore the brunt of the civil war. We expected that the state-building initiatives  would lessen our suffering. The power-sharing system notoriously known as 4.5 places the Banadiri clan in a minority category. This status deprived political and economic rights of Somalis wrongly described as minorities. 

Al Uruba Hotel in Shangani was destroyed thirty years ago.

The 4.5 power-sharing system was unveiled in the year 2000, at Arta, Djibouti, where a reconciliation conference for Somali clans was going on. Under this unfair and discriminatory system, Banadiri clan members get collectively classed as members of an unarmed clan with lesser economic and political rights than citizen belonging to  the other four politically powerful Somali clans who agreed and periodically renew the political marginalisation of the  Banadiri clan members  along with their 0.50 allies.

The federalism project has further deepened the marginalisation of Banadiri clan members. Marka and Baraawe  are historically Banadiri districts, and are under the federal jurisdiction of the South West State of Somalia. Representation of Banadiri Somalis in Marka and Baraawe has even misapplied the 4.5 system foisted on themselves.  We have no credible representation in South West State nor has their post-1990 dispossession and persecution been rectified under the federal system.

Al Uruba Hotel before 1991.

In Banadir region, the seat of the Federal Government of Somalia, Banadiri clan members predominantly live in Shangani and Hamarweyne. Before 1991 Hamarwene and Shangani made up most of central Mogadishu, an area  known for prime real estate due well maintained roads, shopping centres and other amenities. Hamarweyne is controlled by militias under the cloak of government troops. Shangani comparatively suffered more destruction and remains almost uninhabitable, to give to examples of the policy of neglect and marginalisation in Somalia.

While other members from major clan members who fled Mogadishu from 1991  had begun to live in their areas of origin,  Banadiri clan members either had to flee Somalia or live in their militia-conquered districts as oppressed citizens. unable to trade freely. 

Only after 1990 was the label minority placed on the members of the Banadiri clan to legitimise dispossession and other forms of marginalisation to which our fellow citizens from the powerful Somali clan turn a blind eye. Banadiri legislators in Somalia’s bicameral legislature cannot table a motion to discuss the political and economic marginalisation of Banadiri clan members; they (legislators) fear reprisals.  Injustice suffered by Banadiri clan members is a threat to all Somalis.  Why has the Somali community that contributed a lot to the civilisation of Somalia and the formation of Somali Youth League remain oppressed in their country? This essay does not do justice  to describing what Banadiri clan members go through in their homeland due to institutionalised oppression. 

A.M. Buuwe, Kismaayo

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