Somalia: Information on the clans in control of Galcayo, Gelinsoor and Hobyo and on current conditions in these areas

For the most up-to-date information available to the DIRB on current conditions in the north-east region of Somalia, please consult the non-governmental organization (NGO) reports attached to Response to Information Request SOM23319.E of 19 March 1996.

Please note that the spelling of Somali place-names and clans is not consistent in the literature, and that each of the spellings used in this Response to Information Request reflects the original spelling found in the cited sources.

Please find attached a map that indicates that Obbia (Hobya) is in the region historically controlled by the Habr Gedir Saad, a Hawiya clan and that Gelinsor (Gelinsoor) and Galkayu (Galcayo) are situated between the territories of the Darod-Mijertein (Omar Mahmud and Beidyahan clans), the Darod-Marehan and the Hawiya (Habr Gedir Saad and Habr Gedr Suliman clans) (Lewis et al. Aug. 1995, np).

Africa Confidential (AC) of 16 February 1996 states that the strongest forces in Galkayo are the Marehan militias. Galkayo was occupied by Aydeed's men in 1991 and 1992, but now "the Saad of Galkayo regard Aydeed as a threat to the flourishing business that they have built up since the June 1993 peace accord between Aydeed and the SSDF" (ibid.). Galcayo has developed into a centre for trade between north and south Somalia (ibid.). The article also notes that the population of Galcayo is not reflected in the local fighting forces, which are comprised of former members of the old national army (ibid.).

For information on the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), and their links to the Majertain, please consult Response to Information Request SOM20527.E of 3 May 1995.

In the 15 February 1996 document Information Session on Country Conditions on Somalia, available at Regional Documentation Centres, Matt Bryden, in his briefing notes, states that in 1993 the "Mudug agreement brought peace to Mijerteen-Habar Gidir relations and relative calm and stability to the town of Gaalka'yo and adjacent areas" (8) but notes that "the northern Mareexan - Daarod allies ... have yet to make peace with the Habar Gidir" (ibid.). Please consult Response to Information Request SOM17338.E of 20 May 1994 for additional information on the Galcayo peace agreement and Response to Information Request SOM21804.E of 16 May 1995 for information on the background of Matt Bryden.

Galcaio, in the Mudug region, is the site of permanent waterwells and services nomadic populations (Somalia: A Country Study 1993, 69-70). In the 1975 census, 79 per cent of the population of the Mudug region was nomadic, (ibid. 1982, 280) but Somali officials now believe that the nomadic population was substantially undercounted in this census (ibid. 1993, 67). According to The Price of Peace: Somalia and the United Nations 1991-1994, despite the fact that the "clans control markets, trading and local security, tax collecting, etc., and have major social functions" and that clan affliations have been liked to territory in the past,

the centralising efforts of the state in the last two decades, as well as recent dislocations including famine movements, refugee flows, urban growth and civil war, have made any simple equation of clan family and specific land null and void (Gilkes 1994, 7).

Additional information on the current conditions in Gelinsoor and Hobyo could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Africa Confidential [London]. 16 February 1996. Vol. 37, No. 4. "Somalia: Aydeed Again."

Gilkes, Patrick. 1994. The Price of Peace: Somalia and the United Nations 1991-1994. Bedfordshire, UK: Save the Children Fund UK.

Information Session on Country Conditions on Somalia [Toronto]. 15 February 1996. Matt Bryden. "Briefing Paper for IRB Information Sessions on Somalia." (presented to the Immigration and Refugee Board, Front Street Offices, Toronto)

Somalia: A Country Study. 1993. 4th ed. Edited by Helen Chapin Metz. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army.

_____. 1982. 3rd ed. Edited by Harold D. Nelson. Foreign Area Studies, The American University. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army.

Attachments

Africa Confidential [London]. 16 February 1996. Vol. 37, No.4. "Somalia: Aydeed Again," pp. 3-6.

Lewis, Ioan M. et al. August 1995. A Study of Decentralised Political Structures for Somalia: A Menu of Options. London: London School of Economics and Political Science.

Somalia: A Country Study. 1993. 4th ed. Edited by Helen Chapin Metz. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army, pp. 66-71.

_____. 1982. 3rd ed. Edited by Harold D. Nelson. Foreign Area Studies. The American University. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army, p. 280.

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Confidential [London]. Bi-weekly.

Africa Research Bulletin [London]. Monthly.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Daily.

From Relief to Development in Somalia [Nairobi]. Reports of the Office of the United Nations Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for Somalia.

Horn of Africa Bulletin [Uppsala]. Bi-monthly.

USAID Situation Reports.