SUMMARY
The Jiddo subclan of Digil clan (Digil-Mirifle), also spelled Jido, Jiido, Jiddoh or Jiiduu, is part of the Digil line of the Digil-Mirifle clan, which is also known as Rahanweyn and Raween. The Digil-Mirifle, which is one of the five overarching clan families in Somalia, is located in southern Somalia and represents an estimated 17 – 20 % of the overall population. The social structure of the Digil-Mirifle is based on adoption and assimilation of foreign clansman, which makes it the most open and politically hospital of all the Somali clans. Besides the clan identity, the Digil-Mirifle all share a feeling of victimization and of being considered as “lesser Somali” by the other Somali clans. This feeling of victimization became even stronger when the Rahanweyn were amongst those most affected by the conflict induced drought that had hit the inter-riverine region of southern Somalia in the early 1990s. Thousands of people died and more were displaced as a result of the famine that followed. In response to this vulnerability, the Digil-Mirifle started to organise politically and several political conferences were held in the period of 1993-5. This process finally resulted in the Pan Digil and Mirifle Congress and the establishment of an inter-riverine political entity in May 1995, often referred to as the Riverine State which was made up of the Baay and Bakool regions in south western Somalia.
Despite this recently established political structure, the traditional clan and subclan structure still plays a key role. There is no clear agreement on this structure, but the Digil-Mirifle can roughly be said to be divided into two lines, named after the two sons of the clan founder Rahanweyn, Digil and Mirifle. Both lines are further divided in dozens of subclans, one of which is the Jiddo subclan. The Jiddo numbers, depending on sources, between 20 000 and 40 000 and lives in the Shabelle area in southern Somalia, a relatively fertile region, which is used for the group´s main economic activity: agriculture. As in most Digil-Mirifle subclans, farming is practiced individually by each family who owns their own land and animals. In situations of great work-load, the farmers can rely on a complex system of labour-sharing and support in the village.
The complexity of the Somali clan system limits the amount of information available on the different sub-clans. Indeed, there are several perspectives on the lineage charts namely a northern, a central and a southern one. Furthermore the different sub-clans often disagree about their origins. Genealogy is often passed to the next generation orally and is not kept in any written form. Consequently, there also exist various different spellings for each clan and subclan name.
The Jiddo subclan of Digil clan (Digil-Mirifle) has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
