Unmasking the Wolf in Sheepas Clothing: Towards a Critique of the Conflicting Historiographies in Somalia

This article offers critical examination and explanation of the claim of clan cleansing in Somalia as was featured forcefully in the book by Lidwien Kapteijns on the 1991 Somali clan convulsions Upon the publication of the book conflicting narratives of the Somali conflicts were delegated from oral discourse to academic venture as the debate over who lost what why and where in 1991 and over who won what why and where has become both a politicised project and an academic phenomenon By re-evaluating the whole picture the article casts a new light on Kapteijns s book 2013 and demonstrates how inaccurate simplistic statements were used as a documentation of the clanised conflicts in 1991 Somalia Blaming specific clans and communities of complicity for clan cleansing when there is no reliable document and real proof is tantamount to igniting a new round of warfare Drawing on long experience of living and working in Mogadishu the city this author was born and bred as well as the site of the conflict itself and also using interviews conducted with players and bystanders of Somali politics across clan lines the article argues that Kapteijns has produced the most mythicohistorical work in Somali Studies In addition to identifying the invalidity of partisan and partial points the article finds how Kapteijns lobbies for certain clans at the expense of others Thus the critique goes beyond the cleansing exploring wider issues of war and conflict in Somali

Unmasking the Wolf in Sheepas Clothing: Towards a Critique of the Conflicting Historiographies in Somalia

This article offers critical examination and explanation of the claim of clan cleansing in Somalia as was featured forcefully in the book by Lidwien Kapteijns on the 1991 Somali clan convulsions Upon the publication of the book conflicting narratives of the Somali conflicts were delegated from oral discourse to academic venture as the debate over who lost what why and where in 1991 and over who won what why and where has become both a politicised project and an academic phenomenon By re-evaluating the whole picture the article casts a new light on Kapteijns s book 2013 and demonstrates how inaccurate simplistic statements were used as a documentation of the clanised conflicts in 1991 Somalia Blaming specific clans and communities of complicity for clan cleansing when there is no reliable document and real proof is tantamount to igniting a new round of warfare Drawing on long experience of living and working in Mogadishu the city this author was born and bred as well as the site of the conflict itself and also using interviews conducted with players and bystanders of Somali politics across clan lines the article argues that Kapteijns has produced the most mythicohistorical work in Somali Studies In addition to identifying the invalidity of partisan and partial points the article finds how Kapteijns lobbies for certain clans at the expense of others Thus the critique goes beyond the cleansing exploring wider issues of war and conflict in Somali

\u27Sisters; was this what we struggled for?\u27: The Gendered Rivalry in Power and Politics

This article explores the role of Somali women in the twentieth-century history of modern Somalia. This includes exploring the role of women in the decolonisation and post-colonial movements and gender changes during the military dictatorship. The article examines women’s social movements that made some significant changes in Somalia over the past seventy years, even though these have not paved the way for fruitful results. In demonstrating that the current attempts to position themselves in political circles by Somali women has its roots during the decolonisation and post-colonial successive Somali governments, the article argues that women failed to benefit from their feminist agenda as the notion of governmentality changed on the way–from democratisation to the dictatorial military regime

Nature of the state in Somalia and Somaliland : the conversations of the statebuilding and peacebuilding processes

Somalia and Somaliland have taken contrasting routes in the process of state building. While Somalia followed peacebuilding and state building projects from the top down, largely externally-imposed from the international community, Somaliland pursued state building and peacebuilding processes from below through community level accords. Different state structures contribute to political stability in Somaliland, but instability in Somalia, exacerbated by struggles for power through clan politics. This paper addresses these different trajectories: the structural state modes and means, how present and past politics influence patterns of peacebuilding, and resultant models of state building

From Grievance to Greed in Somalia

In the existing academic literature on Somalia, the armed opposition movements that emerged at the height of the Cold War are treated as unidirectional and uniform. This article challenges this tendency by tracing the emergence and evaporation of the once popular mass armed opposition movement, the United Somali Congress (USC). The article provides comparisons with the experiences of Somali and other regional armed opposition movements to argue for a case of institutional and organisational faults in the USC. Most armed movements across the African continent became successful in overthrowing authoritarian regimes during the end of the Cold War, but few of them succeeded in their attempts to seize state power. Unlike the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in Ethiopia in May 1991, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in Rwanda in April 1994 and, a bit earlier, the National Resistance Army (NRA) in Uganda in January 1986, the USC leadership in January 1991 failed to form a stable state and, instead, turned their weapons on each other. Why did the USC fail in 1991 to reconstitute the state which it had fought to rule? What was the power configuration of the USC? How did power contestation of the movement, from the outset, set the stage for chronic conflicts? In seeking answers to these questions, the article explores the internal USC political dynamics by utilising extensive oral interviews with key figures (players, protagonists, proponents and political brokers), visual sources, intelligence reports and the movement’s pamphlets.Dans la littérature scientifique sur la Somalie, les mouvements armés d’opposition qui émergent pendant l’apogée de la Guerre froide sont traités de manière uniforme et unidirectionnelle. Cet article défie cette tendance en retraçant l’émergence et la disparition d’un mouvement populaire de masse, le United Somali Congress (USC). Cet article fournit des comparaisons avec les expériences d’autres mouvements armés d’opposition somaliens et ceux d’autres régions afin de pointer les défauts organisationnels et institutionnels au sein de l’USC. La plupart des mouvements armés sur le continent africain sont parvenus à renverser des régimes autoritaires pendant la fin de la Guerre froide, mais certains ont aussi réussi leur tentative de s’emparer du pouvoir d’État. Contrairement à l’Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) en Éthiopie en mai 1991, le Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) en avril 1994 et, auparavant, la National Resistance Army (NRA) en Uganda en janvier 1986, les dirigeants de l’USC en janvier 1991 échouent dans leur tentative de former un État stable et vont jusqu’à prendre les armes les uns contre les autres. Pourquoi l’USC a échoué en 1991 à reconstituer un État qu’il avait combattu pour gouverner à sa place ? Quelle était la configuration de pouvoirs au sein de l’USC ? Comment la contestation à l’intérieur du mouvement, dès le début, a entraîné des conflits chroniques ? Cet article explore la dynamique politique interne de l’USC en s’appuyant sur des entretiens avec des personnages clés (acteurs, protagonistes, promoteurs et négociateurs politiques), des sources visuelles, des rapports des services d’intelligence ainsi que de la propagande imprimée du mouvement

The Africana World : From Fragmentation to Unity and Renaissance.

Muchie, Mammo, Osha, Sanya & Matlou, Matlotleng P. (eds.). — The Africana World : From Fragmentation to Unity and Renaissance. Pretoria, Africa Institute of South Africa, 2012, 363 p., bibl. The conundrum of Africa to (western-type of) democracy has so perplexed Africanist authors that the slightest hint of progress in socio-political local development is deftly popularised as a model, or more superficially, a “miracle”. Beneath the surface of that imaginative miracle are characteristics of t..