Somalia: Creating Space for Fresh Approaches to Peacebuilding

nationalism, state formation and peacebuilding in somalia
Incorporating clans into state structures represents one of the more significant
challenges for peacebuilders in Somalia. Clan kinship provides the framework
and social functions by which Somalis structure their daily lives and interactions.
They also serve as the main characteristic by which Somalis recognize each other,
provide a sense of identity and belonging, and establish communal support
systems. Additionally, they also provide politicians with means of mobilizing
support and are used to determine political representation. 24 These functions, while
in many ways positive, also present peacebuilders with substantial obstacles to national
integration (See Table 1: Transactive Processes Question 1). Oppressive
regimes have used clan identity to target specific segments of the population for
political and economic exclusion and mass killing. Militias struggling for power
and resources are organized around clan lines. A sense that one belongs to a
certain clan often entails feelings of competition and animosity towards other
clans and involves the inheritance of long-standing rivalries.
In addition to providing positive collaboration for communal needs such as
watering livestock, digging wells, assisting with weddings and funerals, and
aiding poorer members, communal support systems take on the role of life
insurance and retribution through the use of diya-paying groups. One of the
most destructive results is the use of collective punishment. When a member of
another clan is killed, the victim’s clan will kill someone from the criminal’s clan,
regardless of whether or not they were responsible for the crime. Guilt is established
by a person’s membership to the offending clan. Finally, politicians often
abuse clan identity by manipulating real or perceived grievances for personal gain
and to further exclusive political agendas. 25
The negative functions and abuses of clan identity present both immediate
and long-term obstacles. Most imperative are those that interfere with the stability
of state institutions. Violence between and within clans, whether carried out
by militias or diya-paying groups, competes with the state’s monopoly on the use
of force and its means of enforcing law and order. Issues of representation and
political corruption are also critical. Long-term concerns are those that hinder the
formation of a Somali national identity. One example is conceptions of territorial
ownership. Typically, citizens should feel as though their rights, the ability to vote
and compete for political positions, freedom of movement, etc., extend to every
part of the country. As Somalia scholar Afyare Abdi Elmi notes, “The popular
perception among Somalis is that each clan owns the traditional areas that it
inhabits”.
This perception has a negative impact when establishing a state wherein all
groups share its ownership. 26 Obstacles such as this effect not only immediate
issues such as freedom of movement but long-term goals of national cohesion as
well. While there is some overlap between immediate and long-term obstacles,
political corruption that favors one clan over another also impedes a sense of
national unity. Separating immediate from long-term challenges can help peacebuilders
distinguish between areas that require practical, immediate action from
those that necessitate a gradual vision of change. Because nationalism must be
24 Elmi, A.A., Understanding the
Somalia Conflagration, pp. 32-33.
25 Ibid., p. 34.
26 Ibid, p. 38.
39