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The book “Consider Somaliland: State-Building With Traditional Leaders And Institutions” by Marleen Renders delves into the formation of Somaliland’s identity through traditional institutions, state-building, and political negotiations. It highlights the fluidity and interaction of formal and informal elements in Somaliland’s governance and identity.

The book also discusses the challenges related to statehood, state failure, and state-building in Somaliland, focusing on the interplay between traditional institutions and modern political dynamics.

The historical and political context of Somaliland is explored, highlighting the role of clan institutions like the Guurti in shaping the country’s governance and identity. The narrative discusses the complexities of external interventions in state-building processes, emphasizing the inherently political nature of such endeavors and the need for informed engagement with local power dynamics.

The book also touches upon internal conflicts within Somaliland, showcasing how power struggles between different factions, clans, and political entities have influenced the country’s stability and governance structures. The importance of negotiation and engagements is highlighted in the book, emphasizing the importance of political negotiations, traditional institutions, and external engagements in shaping the country’s socio-political landscape.

The book explores the concepts of statehood, state failure, and state-building in the context of Somaliland, emphasizing the complexities associated with these political phenomena. It highlights the significance of traditional institutions, particularly clan-based structures like the Guurti, in shaping governance and political dynamics in Somaliland. The narrative discusses the implications of external interventions in state-building processes, underscoring the inherently political nature of such endeavors and the need for informed engagement with local power dynamics.

The book also delves into the unique dynamics of peacebuilding in Somaliland, emphasizing the relative autonomy of its peace process and the interplay between domestic actors for peace and development without significant international intervention. Additionally, the book analyzes the role of electricity provision in state formation, showcasing how private companies and the government navigate state-building projects and market-making processes in an interconnected world.

The book primarily focuses on various aspects of Somaliland, including its education policies, financial systems, climate resilience efforts, and peacebuilding context. It delves into the challenges faced by Somaliland in education, such as the influence of Western curricula, lack of standardized policy frameworks, and scarcity of resources. The book also discusses the success of the Hawala system and the transition to modern, autonomous, certified money transfers.

The book critiques the systematic failures of international interventions in Somalia, attributing them to a modernizing orientation that emphasizes the construction of a centralized authority. However, it underscores the success of the Somaliland state-building project due to its flexible process that integrates traditional authority into the central democratic government, reflecting the demands and expectations of society.

Overall, “Consider Somaliland” offers a comprehensive analysis of various critical aspects shaping Somaliland’s socio-economic landscape.

CONSIDER SOMALILAND

State-Building with Traditional Leaders and Institutions

Series: African Social Studies Series, Volume: 26

Consider SomalilandAuthor: Marleen Renders

Published date: Jan 2012

Can ‘traditional’ leaders and institutions help to build more legitimate, accountable, and effective governments in polities or ‘states’ under (re)construction? This book investigates the case of “Somaliland,” the 20-year-old non-recognized state which emerged from Somalia’s conflict and state collapse.

A careful analysis of Somaliland’s political history, it outlines the complex and evolving institutional and power dynamics involving clan elders, militia leaders, guerrilla movements, as well as politicians and civil servants in its emerging state structures. While showing the great potential of endogenous processes, it clearly demonstrates the complexity and the politics of those processes and the necessity to think beyond one-size-fits-all state-building formulas.

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Biographical Note

Marleen C.M. Renders, Ph.D. (2006) in Political Science, Ghent University, is a research associate at the Human Rights Centre of the same University. She was a Fellow at the Somaliland Academy for Peace and Development in Hargeysa and has published several articles on state formation in Somaliland. She currently lives and works in Nairobi.

Can ‘traditional’ leaders and institutions help to build more legitimate, accountable, and effective governments in polities or ‘states’ under (re)construction? This book investigates the case of ‘Somaliland’, the 20-year-old non-recognized state which emerged from Somalia’s conflict and state collapse.

A careful analysis of Somaliland’s political history, it outlines the complex and evolving institutional and power dynamics involving clan elders, militia leaders, guerrilla movements, as well as politicians and civil servants in its emerging state structures. While showing the great potential of endogenous processes, it clearly demonstrates the complexity and the politics of those processes and the necessity to think beyond one-size-fits-all state-building formulas. 

CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments  

A Note on Somali Orthography and Transliteration  

Introduction: Places That Do Not Exist 

      1. State-Making in Somaliland
      2. Data Collection
      3. Plan of the Book

I Challenging Received Notions of Statehood, State Failure and State-Building 

      1. Defijining a State: Somaliland’s Claim to Statehood
      2. Failing What?
      3. Persistent Anachronisms
      4. Anachronisms as Patches for State Failure
      5. Invented Traditions and the Making of African States: A Two Way-Process
      6. State-Making Reconsidered: Bringing Politics Back in
      7. Concluding Remarks: Concepts, Discourse and Politics

 II The Failing State. What Has Clan Got to Do With It? 

      1. The Somaliland Protectorate and the Introduction of the Modern Nation State
      2. Colonial Administration and State Building
      3. Clanship Mediated Politics in Cold War Somalia
      4. Concluding Remarks: Failed State Building?

III The Emergence of the Somali National Movement as a Clan-Supported Opposition Force 

      1. Growing Oppositions in the Northwest 
      2. Becoming Isaaq
      3. SNM Fighting in the Northwest
      4. Concluding Remarks

IV Clan Elders and the Forging of a Hybrid State

      1. The Role of Clan Elders in the Undoing of the SNM
      2. SNM Heartland: Clan Elders’ Negotiating Power over State Resources
      3. Peace, Governance and State outside the Isaaq Heartland
      4. Conclusion

V “At the Centre of Peace and War”: Pragmatic State Building Under the Egal Government, 1993–1997

      1. Somaliland and UNOSOM II
      2. The Airport War
      3. Regime Consolidation Via War … and ‘Traditional’ Peace Making
      4. Concluding Remarks

VI Looking Like a Proper State

      1. The Hargeysa ‘Clan Conference’ and the End of Clan-Based Representation
      2. Undoing Local Governance Arrangements While Outsourcing Security and Public Order.
      3. Centralizing Symbolic and Material Resources
      4. Concluding Remarks

VII Claiming the Eastern Borderlands 

      1. The Dhulbahante and Somaliland
      2. Competing State Claims
      3. Shifting Sands and Loose Ends
      4. Concluding Remarks

VIII Egal’s Political and Institutional Tailpiece

      1. The Referendum on the Draft Constitution and the Introduction of the Multi-Party System
      2. The Opposition Sultaans
      3. Toward the First Election
      4. Conclusion

IX Somaliland as a Model for Building Proper States?

      1. Transitioning into the Post-Egal Era
      2. The Elections: Clan Politics Through the Back Door
      3. Somaliland after the First Round of Elections under the Multi-party System
      4. Conclusion

Bibliography 

Index

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASAD     Alliance for Salvation and Democracy
ECHO     European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection
EU          European Union
HPO       hybrid political order
IGAD      Intergovernmental Authority on Development
MOD     Maheran–Ogaden–Darood
NEC        National Electoral Commission
NSS        National Security Service
OAU       Organization of African Unity
RPAPL Regulation of Political Associations and Parties Law
SAPD     Somaliland Academy for Peace and Development
SNM      Somali National Movement
SRRC      Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council
SSDF      Somali Salvation Democratic Front
TFG        Transitional Federal Government
TNA        Transitional National Assembly
TNG       Transitional National Government
UCID      Justice and Welfare Party
UDUB    Democratic United People’s Movement
UN          United Nations
UNCAS United Nations Common Air Services
UNDP    United Nations Development Program
UNOSOM   United Nations Operation in Somalia
UNSC     United Nations Security Council Resolution
USD        United States dollar
USP        United Somali Party
USSR      Union of Socialist Soviet Republics
WSLF     Western Somali Liberation Front

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures

Map of Somaliland

Clan Genealogy of the Isaaq

Tables

  1. Overview of Peace Conferences in Somaliland 1991–1993
  2. Somaliland 2002 Local Council Election Results, by Region
  3. Presidential Election 2003, Results per Region, and Share of each Region in National Vote
  4. Parliamentary Election 2005, Results per Region, and Share of each Region in National Vote
  5. Parliamentary Election 2005, Distribution of Seats
  6. Presidential Election 2010, Results per Region, and Share of each Region in National Vote

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

“If you want to dismantle a hedge, remove one thorn bush at the time,” a Somali saying goes. In the protracted effort of dismantling this one, many have come to my assistance. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to them, without, of course, placing responsibility on anyone but myself for errors or misjudgments that undoubtedly remain in this final product.

This is the endpoint of a long journey. I give special thanks to the late Prof. Gerti Hesseling (University of Utrecht, Afrika Studie Centrum, Leiden), who spurred the process of writing and publishing this book while at the same time exercising her natural authority urging me to— more than anything else—enjoy life.

A major portion of the data presented and analyzed on the following pages was gathered during PhD research fieldwork in Somaliland and Nairobi. I would like to thank some of the (then) staff of the Delegation of the European Commission, UNDP, embassies, universities and international NGOs in Nairobi who helped me during the initial stages of my research: Poly Stevens, Frank Warnier, Rolf Grafe, Rudi Oltmans, Naglaa Elhajj, the Jibriil family, Rachel Spronk and Victor Kraak, Gary P. Jones, Tesfaye Legesse, and Chome Abdi Khamiis. At the Central and East Africa regional office of the War-Torn Societies Project in Nairobi, I would like to thank the late Dr. Farah, Abdirahman Raghe, Rubina Haroon and Matt Bryden.

In Somaliland, I owe a great deal to the reliable services of Yasiin Kahin (alias ‘Yankee Kilo’). Special mention also for Yusuf Osman Musse from Burao and Abdillahi from Las Anod, who facilitated visits to these respective towns.

With respect to the visits to Burao, I would also like to thank Hassan Buur, Dr. Aden Yusuf Abokor, Ahmed ‘Goo,’ Yusuf Awale, and Hussein ‘Kenyatta.’ In Las Anod, I would like to thank the people at the local office of Norwegian People’s Aid: Osman, Shukri, and the late Khalifo. In Borama I thank Ahmed Haashi Abiib and Dirris.

At the International Refugee Committee office in Hargeysa, I am grateful to Donna Greig and Peter von Oy, who, upon finding me sick, exhausted, and on a tight budget in a basic Hargeysa hotel, gave me a spare room and home-cooked meals at the IRC guesthouse.

Finally, in Somaliland, I am very obliged to the Somaliland Academy for Peace and Development as well as to each of the staff and the researchers working there. My work would not have been possible without their guidance and assistance. I particularly want to thank Hussein Bulhan and (in alphabetical order) Abdirahman Jim’ale ‘Dherre,’ Abdirahman Yusuf Artan, Abdi Yusuf Du’aale ‘Boobe,’ Jafar, Mohammed ‘Awoowe,’ Mohammed Hassan Gani ‘Sheikh’ and Su’ad Ibrahim Abdi.

Back in Europe, I would like to thank my colleagues in the Horn of Africa Study group, especially, Tobias Hagmann, Markus Höhne, and Ulf Terlinden, for their help and for their feedback on earlier articles and working papers. The article Ulf and I wrote in Development and Change helped to develop my thinking on Somaliland politics further.

I also thank my former colleagues at the Centre for Third World Studies at Ghent University, especially Christopher Parker and my PhD supervisor, Prof. Ruddy Doom. For the past four years, I have been attached to the Human Rights Center at Ghent University Law School. Deep, heartfelt thanks to all my colleagues there for their friendship and support in good and bad times. I will be forever grateful, in the professional as well as the personal realm, to Prof. Eva Brems.

I can safely say that this book would not have seen the light of day without the help of Catherine Maternowska and Alan Harwood. Catherine picked me up where I had dropped (no small feat) and helped me plough through extensive manuscript editing. Alan Harwood, with his patient and generous manner, artfully fine-edited the entire text, working to make me a better writer in the process.

Finally, I would like to thank my extended family. My parents, Annemie Bartels and Wilfried Renders, have always encouraged and helped me with whatever I wanted to do. After having been given the best possible start in life—a loving home and a good education—I can still depend on them, even today.

Thanks also to Martine Poppe. In spite of all the restless roaming in and out of Africa, it is very obvious where home is—and that feels good: our neighbors and friends in Ghent’s Meibloemstraat, the Brugse Poort, and beyond the city walls, my sister Ingrid, brother Paul, the quintessential godfather Patrick. Tinne Kieckens, what would have become of me without you?

And finally: Stefan Deconinck. I would never have made it this far without your force tranquille that is with me all the time. This work is as much yours as it is mine: you are everything one could hope for in one’s companion in life and the most wonderful, kind, and caring father for our daughters, who brought us so much joy: Kato and Fien.

A NOTE ON SOMALI ORTHOGRAPHY AND TRANSLITERATION

The majority of the Somali population is illiterate. In Somaliland literacy rates are below 50%. This is why in the towns advertisements, billboards, and shop fronts display very little writing. Businesses and shop owners prefer elaborate mural frescos to communicate what is on offer in their store. Newspapers do exist, but they are not distributed outside the capital Hargeysa and they have very limited circulation.

Nevertheless, the Somali language is very rich. The Somalis are widely reputed as a nation of poets. Professional poets are admired and feared for their skill. Traditionally, poems, messages, and news more generally were transmitted orally, by word of mouth. News spread as nomadic groups moved around, meeting each other at wells, markets, mosques or other public gathering places such as the teashops in the permanent villages and settlements. Later on, radio became an important channel of information (and of government propaganda).

The Somalis are a so-called oral society, even exclusively so up to about thirty years ago. The Somali language was not written down until the 1970s. The issue of written Somali arose at independence in 1960. Up to that day, the Somali territories had been administrated by foreign powers using their own foreign tongues. Their Somali civil servants also worked in English or Italian respectively.

At independence, this of course became a problem: while the Mogadishu-based civil servants worked in Italian, the Hargeysa-based civil servants worked in English. While the civil servants did not understand each other, the Somali citizens did not understand any foreign language at all. Creating a script for the Somali language thus became imperative. It would, however, take more than a decade to materialize because the matter became a thorny political issue involving religious and clan-related squabbles.

The most practical solutions seemed to simply use the Latin script. Somali has more vowels than consonants—used in different combinations; the five vowels of the Latin script could be made to approximate the Somali sounds and intonations. Moreover, using the Latin script the new Somali administration would be able to hold on to the old typewriters of the colonial administrations, making the transition to the new era less of a logistical headache.

The proposal to introduce the Latin script, however, immediately met with fierce opposition from different sides. Religious leaders opposed the Latin script as the language of the infidels and propagated the Arabic script instead, using the clever, catchy slogan “Laatiin, Laa Diin” (i.e. something amounting to “Latin” equals “without religion”).

Somali nationalist intellectuals, on the other hand, considered the Latin script as a residue of the colonial occupation. Twenty-one intellectuals attempted to create their own new indigenous Somali alphabet. Soon, however, the respective scripts became associated with the clans of their creators, becoming all but totally unacceptable to the other clans.

The discussion about the Somali script was ended by the military government of Siyad Barre. On the 20th of October 1972, the third anniversary of the Revolution (the coup d’état against the civil government), Siyad announced his decision with an appropriate sense of drama. The Somali president got a helicopter to drop thousands of colored leaflets over the crowds who were lined up for the festive military parade.

As people picked up the pamphlets, puzzling over what they meant and in which language they were written, the few literate people among them suddenly realized that they were written in Somali, using the Latin script. It was this script that henceforth would be used to write Somali. The move was followed by a mass literacy campaign.

The Somali alphabet had to provide a solution for a number of sounds not used in English or Italian. A number of Latin signs were adapted to use for Somali. Throughout the book, words containing these signs may be found on maps or in tables, but not in the main text itself. I am aware that this comes with a trade-off in terms of consistency, yet, considering that using the Somali spelling may complicate reading for non-Somali speakers, I have chosen to use the common anglicized spelling where it does exist and to use transliterations for the names of places, persons and concepts which have no pendant in English.

In Somali spelling, ‘c’ is a sound close to the Arabic ayn. It is used, for example, in Cabdi (the name), or Burco (the town). In this book, Cabdi will be written as Abdi. Burco will be written as Bur’o. The ‘x’ is, In Somali, pronounced as a hard aspirated ‘h.’ It is used for example, in Xassan (the name) or xeer (Somali customary law). In this book, Xassan will be written as Hassan. Xeer will be written as heer.

Again, for the sake of readability, English rather than Somali plural forms will be used. For example, Somali words such as suldaan (a titled traditional elder among the Isaaq) in English written as sultaan, will not be written using the Somali plural suldaano but the English plural form sultaans. Idem for garaaddo (the plural of garaad, which will become garaads).

Map of Somaliland

Map of SomalilandClan Genealogy of the Isaaq

Clan Genealogy of the IsaaqNext: Introduction: Places That Do Not Exist

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