Somalia Clan Structure
2.1 CLAN STRUCTURE
Somalia is a very peculiar country in Africa. It is located in Africa but has been considered Arab in a way. Somalia joined the Arab league which presently consists of 22 members in 1974 in which it is still a member. In the strictest sense, Somalis are recognized by their clan lineage which is why clans are a critical institution in Somalia. It is the basis for individual security, access to land and the social justice system (Besteman & Cassanelli, 2000). Somali clan leaders possess a great amount of influence in their nation; this power though is constrained by their respective clan. Somalia is also one of the few countries in Africa that is mono-ethnic, meaning that the state has a common language, Islam being the single …show more content…
The four noble clans-families are further divided into clans and those clans are even further divided into sub-clans. Clan lines during the reign of Siad Barre became extremely contentious. The civil service in the nation before Barre was merit-based and when Barre took power and declared it a socialist state, the merit-based system was abandoned and was replaced by a clan-based system. Barre installed a nomenklatura system of appointing civil servants, this system was based on the former Soviet Union method of giving influential posts in the government were filled by party appointees (Adam, 2005). Just like the Soviets, Barre appointed people based on their ideologies rather than clanism, this would ensure that the people in people in power were loyal to his regime. Barre showed preference to the Darod clan-family and what began as partisanship turned to assaults on other clans. Barre pursued to ruin other clans by jailing or exiling leaders and other leaders. Barre was aiming to eradicate tribalism and this could be seen as the breaking point for Somalia and the Barre regime. One important fact that is important to note about the Barre …show more content…
Barre and wanted to control the Somali population in Ogaden Desert and as a result more than a million Somali’s in the Ogaden Region fled to Somalia and put more pressure on an already crumpling economy. The increasing number of refugees and the economic crisis in the late 1970’s in Somalia had required Barre to request help in humanitarian aid from the international community (Shay,
Somalia is a very peculiar country in Africa. It is located in Africa but has been considered Arab in a way. Somalia joined the Arab league which presently consists of 22 members in 1974 in which it is still a member. In the strictest sense, Somalis are recognized by their clan lineage which is why clans are a critical institution in Somalia. It is the basis for individual security, access to land and the social justice system (Besteman & Cassanelli, 2000). Somali clan leaders possess a great amount of influence in their nation; this power though is constrained by their respective clan. Somalia is also one of the few countries in Africa that is mono-ethnic, meaning that the state has a common language, Islam being the single …show more content…
The four noble clans-families are further divided into clans and those clans are even further divided into sub-clans. Clan lines during the reign of Siad Barre became extremely contentious. The civil service in the nation before Barre was merit-based and when Barre took power and declared it a socialist state, the merit-based system was abandoned and was replaced by a clan-based system. Barre installed a nomenklatura system of appointing civil servants, this system was based on the former Soviet Union method of giving influential posts in the government were filled by party appointees (Adam, 2005). Just like the Soviets, Barre appointed people based on their ideologies rather than clanism, this would ensure that the people in people in power were loyal to his regime. Barre showed preference to the Darod clan-family and what began as partisanship turned to assaults on other clans. Barre pursued to ruin other clans by jailing or exiling leaders and other leaders. Barre was aiming to eradicate tribalism and this could be seen as the breaking point for Somalia and the Barre regime. One important fact that is important to note about the Barre …show more content…
Barre and wanted to control the Somali population in Ogaden Desert and as a result more than a million Somali’s in the Ogaden Region fled to Somalia and put more pressure on an already crumpling economy. The increasing number of refugees and the economic crisis in the late 1970’s in Somalia had required Barre to request help in humanitarian aid from the international community (Shay,