SOMALIA

OVERVIEW

COUNTRY:  The Somali Democratic Republic

GOVERNMENT: Has no functioning government (inter-factional fighting and anarchy).

GOVERNMENT LEADER: Abdigaasim Salad Hassan, leader of Arta faction

Elected in the Djibouti conference but not accepted by all Somalis.  Mogadishu is divided into 5 parts and the so-called ‘president’ can not go out without security escorts.  In the other regions of Somalia, such as  Puntland, Somaliland, the soon to be constituted SouthWest consisting of 6 regions, he is not welcome.

CAPITAL: Mogadishu (500.000 inhabitants in 1994); was the capital of Somalia but since 1990's, most Somalis do not think of it as the National Capital.  It is divided and subdivided by one single clan.  as a result of massive destruction and pillage, most of the inhabitants of the city have left. Some are in refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and elsewhere.  For most of the Somalis who lived there, Mogadishu is not a city for all Somalis.  Their houses are occupied, their land is taken, and they have fled.

POPULATION: 9 million

The population of Somalia before the war was 8 million.  With the war and famine things have changed.

There are 4 million refugees

There are 4 million displaced

And there are about 2 million who died of exodus or famine!

AREA: 637.7 (sq. km)

Sea coast

Red sea and Indian Ocean

GEOGRAPHY: The Horn of Africa, Somalia is the easternmost part of the African continent. Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti border Somalia.

NATURAL RESOURCES: 60% to 70% of Somalia’s foreign currency earnings depend on the export of livestock (camels, cattle, sheep and goats) to the Arab world, principally to Saudi Arabia. Somalia has the greatest number of camels of any country in the world.

Banana trade (an Italian legacy) is the second commercial agriculture - 40% of Somalia foreign reserve earnings. It also produces sugar cane, maize, sorghum and grapefruit.

CURRENCY: The Somali Shilling

ADULT LITERACY: 25%

LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH: 1997, 49 years old for female and 45 years old for males

INFANT MORTALITY: 1997, 126 per 1000 live births

LANGUAGE:

·        Somali

·        Arabic

·        English

·        Italian

The Somali language did not adopt a written form until 1972.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In 1869, opening of the Suez Canal led to the division of Somalia between the imperial powers of Great Britain, France and Italy.

1886, Britain signed treaties with northern Somali clans and declares protectorate.

1889, Italy signed first treaties with southern clans.

1927, Italy established full control over southern areas.

1936, Italian Somaliland was used as bases for Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia and took-over British Somaliland (1940).

1941, Britain took back British Somaliland and administered Italian Somaliland.

1959, first general election in southern Somalia. Britain agreed to grant independence to the north.

In 1960, 26th June, British Somaliland became independent. 1st July, Italian Somaliland became independent and the two countries joined to form what is currently Somalia territory.

1963-64, at war with Ethiopia. Somalia lost.

1969, Army seizes power in Somalia, forming Supreme Revolutionary Council under Major General Siad Barre and declaring Somalia a socialist state; most of the country’s modern economy was nationalized.

1974-75, drought caused widespread starvation.

1977-88 war between Somalia and Ethiopia; ethnic Somalis living in the Ogden region of Ethiopia fight for self-determination.

1991, President Siad Barre fled the country. Although Siad Barre’s removal was widely welcomed, Somalia descended into anarchy.

In 1992, one million Somalis fled to Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen and Djibouti. Starting point of the civil war.

1992-94, ‘Operation Restore Hope’ by the United Nations to restore order, without Somalia’s permission. US troops failed in their task, international relief organisations suspended their operations because of widespread looting and Somalia remained without a government.     

'The history of Somalia is characterised by clans feuding over scarce resources and this manner of social organisation was perfectly suited to the hardships of the pastoralist economy, but dangerously unstable in the context of the modern state system. This led to the well-documented collapse of the state in 1991 into a series of warlord fiefdoms.' (Australian Red Cross June 2000)

POPULATION PROFILE

The Somalis are Cushitic people and share the same language, religion and culture but are divided into groups by deeply ingrained clan structure.  

‘According to widespread Somali belief - all Somali descend from a common founding father, the mythical Samaale to whom the overwhelming majority of Somalis trace their genealogical origin.

Even those clan-families, such as the Digil and Rahanwayn in southern Somalia, many members of whom do not trace their genealogy directly to Samaale, readily identify themselves as Somalis, thereby accepting, at least in a symbolic sense, the primacy of Samaale as the forbearer of Somali people.  

80% of the Somali population belongs to the Samaale group in the north and 20% belong to the Saab in the south. These tribes became distinctive in Somalia during the 12th century and the division between the two groups is upheld in modern day Somalia. (Australian Red Cross, June 2000) 

Genealogy constitutes the heart of the Somali social system and is the basis of their collective predilection to internal fissions and internecine conflicts as well as of the unity of thought and action among Somalis - a unity that borders on xenophobia.’ (Minority Rights Group Report, 1991).

There are six major clan-families:

·        Daarood who number over a million

·        Hawiye, south-central portions of the country - Mogadishu, the capital is to all intents a Hawiye city

·        Isaaq who predominate in northern Somalia (persecuted under Siad Barre regime)

·        Dir who subdivide into two branches: the Godabiirsay (Samaroon) and the Iise.

·        Digil are the two largely agricultural clan-families with the

·        Rahanwayn riverside residents of southern Somalia.

Dir, Daarood, Hawiye and Isaaq practice a largely pastoral mode of economy. They raise a variety of herds (camels and cattle) and flocks (sheep and goats).

The pastoral clan organization is an unstable, fragile system, characterized at all levels by shifting allegiances. Power and politics are exercised through temporary coalitions and ephemeral alliances of lineage.

However, the two poles of power in the politics of post-independence Somalia, in varying degrees and compositions, tended to be formed by the Daarood clan-family on the one hand and a confederacy of the Hawiye and the Isaaq clan-families on the other’ (Minority Rights Group International, 1991).

RELIGION

·        99% Sunni Muslim

CULTURE/FOOD/DRINK

Islam shapes many aspects of Somali culture.

 ‘In essence Somalia is a pastoral republic. Somalia remains a nation of nomads. An estimated two thirds of the population (of an estimated four million) continues to practice pastoralism as the principal mode of the economy’ (Minority Rights Group Report, 1991). 

Skin decorations made with henna are commonly practiced in Somalia (ref. introduction). 

Food/drink: Staple food is meat except pork (Islam forbids the consumption of pork and alcohol). Somali would eat only halal-slaughtered meat, fish and rice. They're also fond to eat pasta (influence from the Italian colonial legacy) with their meals such as spaghetti Bolognese style.

The common drinks, sweet spicy tea with or without milk. 

Some people chew what they call ‘chatt/ghat/ qat’ as a (trendy) social event or for some religious persons to enhance meditation. They are green leaves and are a stimulant and addictive (kind of Coca leaf).

ETIQUETTE

There is strict separation of the sexes by certain families since 1992 (e.g. girls and boys may not be allowed to swim together). 

The right hand is used for eating and handshaking. 

Greetings: handshakes are appropriate only between men and men or between women and women. Some do greet each other by shaking hands three times and then holding the hand to the heart. 

Men and women may not make eye contact during conversation. 

Men should not visit a Somali house if the husband or another male relative is not at home, especially at night. This never used to be a Somali way but commonly practiced in more recent times (since 1990’s). 

Women are expected to cover their bodies, including hair, when in public (for religious reasons); however facial veiling is uncommon among the refugees in New Zealand.

SOCIAL RELATIONS

Islam shapes many aspects of Somali social relations.  

Also the long tradition of pastoral activities has shaped the social relations and the basis of the family clans system. Indeed the survival in a harsh environment of extreme heat and camels required that kinspeople act in concert instead of individually.  

The Somali Heer, or political contract, functioned by a system of collective responsibility, punishment and reward. Consequently, the reprobate man’s tendency to excess and mischief was controlled by his kinspeople because they were collectively answerable for his behaviour.  

However, Somalis traditionally used to be divided into carefully balanced clans, this structure failed to operate in a western political system and faceless administrative bureaucracy headed by a central authority. 

'In the operation of Somali traditional politics, one literally got away with murder. In the politics of the modern state this principle operates, with disastrous consequences, in one crucial area: modern politicians and men - women, too - of power remain respected and protected members of their immediate kin no matter how blatantly they abuse the public office.

Thus General Barre, though he has divided and oppressively ruled his nation, remains a hero to his immediate kin in the Mareehaan clan. They do not see President Barre, the ruthless despot who ruined an entire nation, only their remarkably successful and fortunate kinsman.’

 ‘Somali have failed to develop a cultural culture capable of running a new state, or of articulating the method and means by which that state should relate to the society of clans at large.’ (Samatar Said S., 1991)

Polygamy is a common Somali Muslim custom.

Somali families have an average of 6 children.

The nomadic stock herder needs larger families to handle the family stock and one wife is seldom able to bring up a sufficiently large family to maturity. However the husband has to be rich enough to give equal support to his wives. Consequently having several wives is a sign of wealth.

 Somali women do not change their family name upon marriage to their new husband’s name. They retain both their father’s name and his clan identity.

The societal structure is indeed markedly fractionated by membership in patrilineal clans (descent through male lines). However, women can own businesses and property and at the same time occupy a vital position in the extended family.

HEALTH OF SOMALI QUOTA REFUGEES IN NEW ZEALAND:

From June 1995 to May 2000 the MRRC medical Clinic has screened a total of 683 Somali refugees, comprising: 330 women and 353 men.

·        It is recommended to provide an interpreter and health professional of the same gender.

As with other refugees and immigrants, being in a sick role intensifies whatever difficulties a Somali patient has in adjustment to a different culture.

HEALTH CARE BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

There are traditional medical practitioners in Somalia, especially herbalists, bonesetters and religious practitioners. Herbal medicines are widely used in Somalia, especially for chest and abdominal symptoms; the herbal pharmacopoeia is vast, and practitioners closely guard some recipes. Healers treat psychosomatic disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, respiratory and digestive diseases, and snake and other reptile bites.

 Another common practice is termed "fire-burning," where a special hot stick (or burning incense or herbs) is applied on to the skin for treatments of illness. They are often seen around the umbilicus, chest, wrists and ankles. Often used to treat chronic eczema in children or when western medical treatment was not available or has not been effective. The lesions usually indicate that the child or person was very sick at one time. 

98% of Somali girls 8-10 years of age undergo ‘female circumcision’ or infibulations (FGM); a pharaonic practice, which involves cutting both Labia minor and clitoris and sewing up the Labia major.

This cultural practice that some Somali believe controls women’s' sexuality, but can lead to infection, severe gynecological complications, and even death.   

Infectious diseases are widespread and maternal mortality is high.

MENTAL HEALTH

Concepts involving spirits, such as "Evil-eye," where excessive praise or attention can attract evil spirits to an infant or child, can be viewed as causing illness including mental illness.  

Ritualized dancing is used mostly for psychosomatic disorders (practice of exorcism), and Koranic cures as well (prays).  

Traditional healers treat psychosomatic disorders.

SOMALI RESETTLEMENT IN NEW ZEALAND

The first Somali refugees came to New Zealand in 1993. Most of them were women and children.  

There are at least 1,316 Somali living in New Zealand, (quota refugees only) (figures supplied by the NZIS - 2000).  

Somali is the largest African refugee group in New Zealand (approximately 2500 people) and they have settled in Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington.

At least 800 Somali refugees have been resettled in Auckland and are living in the central suburbs, such as Mt Albert, Mt Roskill, and Sandringham. 

Resource materials and references 

Australian Red Cross, pp89, June 2000, The Greater Horn of Africa - Communities in Brisbane a Report of the Action Research Project with Newly Arrived Refugees from the Greater Horn of Africa, Australian Red Cross publication. 

Beaglehole, Ann (1990) Facing the past: Looking Back at Refugee Childhood in New Zealand, published by Allen and Unwin, Wellington, New Zealand 

Department of Labour, New Zealand Immigration Service, pp94 (58), 1994, Refugee women  - The New Zealand Refugee Quota Programme, NZIS publication, Wellington, New Zealand 

Driver, Cathryn and Beltran, Ruth (1988) Impact of Refugee Trauma on Children’s Occupational Role as School Students in Australia Occupational Therapy Journal 45, 23-38 

Lance A. Rasbridge Refugees from Somalia, pp6, 1997, Washington, USA

Available on: http://www.baylor.edu/~Charles_Kemp/refugee_mental_health.htm 

Louise Humpage (August 2000) Positioned for disadvantage: Somali refugee adolescents in Christchurch secondary schools, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

 National Refugee Health Screening Centre document, Reeve M. (1999-2000), Auckland, New Zealand 

New Settlers Focus Group, pp107 (23), 1997, Ethnic New Zealand - Towards Cultural Understanding edited by Bell D., New Settlers Focus Group publication, Hamilton, New Zealand 

Samatar Said S., pp.33, 1991, Somalia: A Nation in Turmoil, a Minority Rights Group Report, MRG publication 

The Statesman’s Yearbook (year 2000) The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World edited by Turner B., St. Martin Press publication, New York, USA 

Timayare D. A. (1999-2000) Somali community profile -‘Auckland Somali Concern’, Auckland, New Zealand 

UNHCR Refugees Magazine, pp21-23 Vol.2, No115, 1999, We Keep Silent Until We Die… by Mary Anne Fitzgerald, UNHCR publication, Geneva, Switzerland 

Worlmark Encyclopedia (1998) of Cultures and Daily Life, Gale publication, Detroit, USA 

http://members.xoom.com/_XMCM/vandiest/somalia.htm 

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