A short synopsis on the role of the clan in Somalia Or The Separation of the Clan and the State

The poet Alfred Tennyson famously wrote, “for I dipt into the future, far as the human eye could see, / saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that could be.” The wonder that could be he was alluding to was of course a day when winter would finally give way to spring and human suffering would transform into celebration and rejoice. The jubilation and carnival that ensued in Somalia in 1960 following the departure of the Italian and British colonizers gave hope to a free, prosperous and most importantly a united Somalia. That hope about a prosperous and united Somalia was severely challenged by the nomadic and in some cases the primordial allegiance Somalis place in the clan above the loyalty to the state. For the Somali state to have reached its full potential and liberated Somali lands gifted away by former colonizers to our hostile neighbors, Somalia (or Somalis) would have abandoned clan bigotry and developed a more unambiguous meaning on the concept of what it means to be a Somali.

Society always consists, wrote Ralph Emerson, in greatest part, of young and foolish persons. The old, he said, who have seen through the hypocrisy of the clan and leaders, die, and leave no wisdom to their sons. The failure of subsequent governments following independence to better address the dangers posed by clan bigotry contributed to the eventual collapse of the State. In fact, in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, the excessive reliance on clan-politics by the then regime ushered a new culture of clan bigotry and competition for power which is quite evident today. The augmentation of the clan-based zero-sum politics whereby the political or economic gain of one clan was seen as a loss and/or threat to the other clans meant that economic and social empowerment provided by the regime (to bolster its base) to the members of dictator’s clansmen at the cost of the general population meant that other clans saw the sudden raise of an otherwise relatively unknown players in Somali politics as a serious threat leading to the formation of the clan-based rebel movements in the 1980s lining up to dispose the dictator and his regime only to replace it with one of their own. This competition for clan-power and dominance created a window of opportunity for regional players, quite notably, Ethiopia which was only too happy to jump to bed with any-one that wanted the destabilization of the Somali state.

The clan-based stratification that exists in Somalia is of course deeply rooted in the history and culture of our people and one that needs to be better understood and worked out for Somalia to survive the current clan-driven civil war and competition for power. The issue of clan dynamics which was often times neglected by the educated class (since it was and still is considered a taboo to talk of such a primitive topic) led to the degeneration of the Somali state.

We have to be careful in stating that clan-bigotry is not the only problem that Somalia faces. To paraphrase Amartya Sen, the interest in clan as a source of instability and social disparity has to be placed within a bigger picture that includes other divisive influences: illiteracy, injustice, political disempowerment and economic poverty. Again to paraphrase Sen, clan does not act alone in creating and reinforcing destabilization and civil strife, and yet no other source of social tension is fully independent of clan.

Clan is used by warlords to garner support and cause civil unrest to further their own heinous agenda of division and turmoil which in most cases has nothing to do with the benefit of the clan as whole but contributes to almost always the advancement of the selfish goals/agenda of the warlords and other instigators of clan-bigotry. Some of the recent solutions to clan-bigotry and seen as “remedial features,” such as the quota system which rewards certain clans specific seats in both the parliament and government in fact enhances the existence of clan-bigotry instead of weakening it. Clan-bigotry cannot be eradicated unless the government reflects a pool of well-qualified people who hold positions based on merit rather than the orientation of their clan as it cultivates more animosity and internal competition of power. The purpose of any government therefore is to weaken rather than reinforce the l existence of clan dynamics in the political sphere.

Central to the amplification of clan-bigotry is the illiteracy and political disempowerment that exists in Somalia. The poor and uneducated sections of our society are more susceptible to the persuasion of clan-bigotry agitators. Examples of these factors were seen during the 1990s when hordes of uneducated and economically deprived young men flocked to Mogadishu and other cities to heed the call of clan defense and find jobs as members of a clan-based militia groups. Eventually many of these young men were exploited to advance the selfish interests of the warlords and in the process increasing the influence and power projection of the warlords and raising them as the de-facto politicians in Somalia- a role they enjoy to this day. In turn the dependence of the warlords on external support to arm their militia enabled regional players such as Ethiopia to exploit Somalia as it continues to hold the mistaken view that a weak and destabilized will enhance the survival of the current regime.

Again to paraphrase Ralph Emerson, the spirit of our Somali clanism is destructive and aimless; it is not loving; it has no ulterior motive and divine ends save social strife and animosity; but it is destructive only out of hatred and selfishness.

The collection of warlords that were persuaded by the Ethiopian regime to form a government supportive of Ethiopian strategic plans in the region and paid for by the United Nations gave birth to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) causing the intensification of the Somali conflict. The dependence on warlords who have the blood of the Somali people on their hands to bring law and order to Somalia did not cross the minds of the International Community as ironic and quite delusional, much like the dependence of America on the Ethiopian dictator who denies his people freedom and democracy, to bring democracy to Somalia isn’t seen for what it is-absurd and ludicrous. The TFG filled with warlords who are not only unqualified to steer a nation that they themselves destroyed but are simply a ploy by Ethiopia to further its own interests in Somalia has become what most rational people warned against and what Ralph Emerson would term as a gang whose members, for the most part, could give no account of their position, but stand for the defense of those interests in which they find themselves.

For Somalia to move towards a prosperous path, there needs to be more discussion on the role of the clan in our social and political discourse and where to draw the line between what can be deemed acceptable and what is not. Perhaps, it would be appropriate to quote Amartya Sen here once again, “Some-times the very institutions that are created to overcome disparities and barriers have tended to act as reactionary influences in reinforcing inequity… The ubiquitous role of clan divisions influences social arrangements in remarkably diverse ways and deserves a fuller recognition than it has tended to get in the making of Somali public policy. There is something serious to argue about here.”