“...although the northern Somali have been colonized they have never really been conquered. Despite innumerable punitive expeditions, and the final extinction of the rebellion led by Sheikh Mahammad ‘Abdille Hassan which, lasting from 1900-1920, was until recently the main event in the modern history of northern Somaliland, the northern pastoralists have never been decisively subjugated.” (Lewis, 1962, p.25)
As shown in the above quote, the northern Somali society (Somaliland) survived different wars, invasions, and occupations, spanning from colonial times to the attempts of ethnic cleansing by the communist regime in Somalia in the late 1980s. The social structures for peace remained intact and helped the formation of modern Somaliland in 1991 through a peaceful process of reconciliation, and peacebuilding. This fact sheet lays out the key historical events that characterize the evolution of peace in Somaliland.
Soon after the defeat of Somalia’s military in the north after a bloody guerilla war of attrition, and the central government in Mogadishu collapsed in 1991, the Somali National Movement (SNM) which was the only guerilla movement controlling the North (Somaliland), started a peace process. The SNM guerilla group was representing only one clan (the Isaq, a majority clan in the north), but the other clans reside in the north and without them, SNM realized peace and statehood cannot be achieved. SNM itself was politically organized into a coalition of Isaq sub-clans who were competing for power and resources. But traditional elders were known as the “Guurti” were always embedded into SNM guerillas and were useful in conflict resolution, and social mobilization both for war and for peace as they enjoyed respect from their clans.
For the above-mentioned reasons, SNM leadership started to reach out to the local traditional leaders as a first step to prepare an all-Inclusive Peace Conference in the north (Somaliland). Therefore, the first peacebuilding conference was the Berbera Peace Conference in 1991.
The goal of the Berbera Peace Conference was to restore trust among the northern clans by bringing their traditional representatives together so that they collaborate on reconciliation and building peace in the north.
The Berbera Peace Conference was very successful and the result was a preliminary peace agreement between all northern clans and a plan for conducting another all-inclusive conference to discuss and decide on matters like security, governance, and statehood.
Soon after the defeat of the Somali government forces in the north, SNM guerilla organization started to decompose into clan factions with competing political and economic interests. Banditry and armed robbery became widespread and the security went out of control. SNM leadership thus realized that if they don’t quickly start organizing the clans for peace and statebuilding, they will end up like south Somalia where organized insurgency organizations decayed into warlords and rogue clan militias.
This conference was organized by the SNM leadership in collaboration with the Guurti or local traditional elders. The conference took place in Burao city, the second largest urban center in Somaliland between April 27th to May 18th, 1991. Delegates representing every clan in Somaliland were invited. These delegates were predominantly traditional leaders (clan and sub-clan chiefs), but also included intellectuals, religious leaders, politicians and famous business people. All these people had stakes in the peace process.
The conference took three weeks of consultations, broad discussions and debate. Participants discussed issues like clan grievances, governance, security, and the questions of withdrawal from the union with Somalia. The conference was open for everyone, hence women, disabled people and even children attended.
The Grand Conference of the Northern Clans concluded on 18th May 1991, producing a historic inclusive intra-clan treaty equivalent to the traditional customary law (heer). The treaty contained six articles signed by all the clan representatives (traditional leaders).
Those articles were as following;
The northern country is autonomous from the rest of Somalia
Islamic law shall be adopted
Security shall be restored in the north
A government shall be created as soon as possible in the north
All constituent clans in the north shall be equitably represented in the new government
A special committee shall be formed to handle the security of the Sanaag region
This treaty set the foundations for creating a hybrid type of governance encompassing traditional clan based governance (heer), Islamic governance and modern democratic governance. This gave Somaliland a very strong local legitimacy which helped the restoration of security and law and order. SNM was given a two year mandate to rule the country and as a transitional government and then to conduct another all-inclusive conference to elect a new government.
The transitional government faced some challenges including the disarmament and demobilization of the ex-guerrilla fighters, clan militias and other armed bandits. Also, building a national army and a security architecture (intelligence, police, military etc). Competing clan interests were causing sporadic violence and political conflict, particularly at the port city of Berbera, where two clan communities coexist and were competing for the port income. Also in Burao, three different clans lived side by side but with distrust. Clan elites were feeling insecurity about marginalization if they hand over their arms and militias to the transitional government. Clan fighting broke out in both Burao, and Berbera in January 1992 due to the above mentioned reasons, until another peace conference was held in Sheikh town between Berbera and Burao where a ceasefire agreement was reached in October the same year and a national peace conference was agreed to be held in Borama city, west of Somaliland, in order to remove the SNM government and elect a new interim government.
When the two years transition period was about to end, a new all-inclusive conference was organized and held in Borama (a town located near the border to Djibouti).
The primary goal of the conference was to create a permanent peace rooted into the social structure. The traditional delegates representing the clans and subclans were increased to include all the relevant clan and subclan factions and represent their interests. To make them the decision makers in the future of Somaliland. Other civil society and private sector representatives also were invited to have a say in the process.
The conference produced the following results;
A council of traditional elders representing all clans and sub-clans was created to become a permanent institution called (Guurti), in which all clan grievances and conflicts would be resolved instead of resorting to violence. The council consisted of 75 traditional representatives and later was increased to 82. They formed an electoral college of traditional elders.
A power sharing arrangement was agreed upon where the President, the vice-president and the chairman of the house of representatives would come from the three major clans in Somaliland. Clans from the Isaq clan family were given an egalitarian representation (8 different clans each had equal seats in the traditional elders council).
It was agreed to replace the previous transitional government with a new interim government that would lead the country towards a democratic multi-party electoral system.
Mohamed Ibrahim Egal was elected as the new president, a widely respected statesman (Egal was the ex-prime minister of the Somali Republic before the 1969 military coup). Egal was mandated to build a new inclusive government and restore the functions of the state. A cabinet of 17 ministers was chosen to work as Egal’s government. A three year mandate was given to them. In this way, the first peaceful transfer of power occurred in Somaliland, from SNM leadership to a civilian administration.
A transitional national charter was agreed to be drafted and a 30 article peace agreement was adopted as clan based “heer '' or traditional customary law. This peace agreement established a security architect and peaceful conflict resolutions mechanisms.
During that peacebuilding process foreign intervention (mediation, arbitration, funding etc) was avoided as these interventions always come with strings of foreign political, economic or strategic interests attached to them, which often are not the best interest of the local peacebuilding process. Egal’s government revived the state structures like the police, judiciary, health care, education, broadcasting, elections, etc., without any support from the regional or international communities. The government was running with money borrowed from local business people, alongside small income from an infant taxation system.
Nevertheless, Egal’s government faced many other challenges like disarmament and demobilization of clan militias. This has caused security conflict between the government and some clans.
By mid-1994, a political movement favoring federalism with Somalia instead of withdrawal from the union of 1960 started to grow rapidly among the “Garhajis” Clan (which are part of the Isaq clan family). The Garhajis are an influential clan inhabiting the south and the east of the Somaliland Capital, Hargeisa, part of Berbera, and part of Burao and part of Erigavo area. The federalists started to establish relations with General Aidid in Somalia and began to dissent from Egal’s government. They also tried hard to preach their political view among the Garhajis clan by exploiting the traditional system to draw support and legitimacy.
The Garhajis clan conducted two national conferences for their own clan to discuss these matters. They became deeply divided on this, at the end, some subclans of the Garhajis sided with the Somaliland government while the other half sided with the federalist group. They quickly transformed into a federalist insurgency fighting the Somaliland government and a civil war broke out in Hargeisa, Burao, and Berbera.
By that time, the government had demobilized and disarmed almost all the rest of the clans except this clan and built a strong national army. The federalist insurgents were then defeated as all the other clans sided with the government (representing peace and stability). After that, a reconciliation process was announced by the traditional elders council and another national Conference was organized, now known as the Sheikh Conference. Sheikh is a small but strategic town located between Berbera and Burao.