SUMMARY
The Yantar subclan of Mirifle clan (Digil-Mirifle), also known as Yantaar subclan, is part of the Mirifle line of the Digil-Mirifle clan which is also known as Rahanweyn and Raween. The Digil-Mirifle is one of the five overarching clan families in Somalia, are located in southern Somalia and represent between 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 Rahanweyn 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 Digil and Mirifle of the clan founder Rahanweyn. Both lines are further divided in a total of up to, depending on sources, 28 subclans, one of which is the Yantar subclan.
There is very little information available about the Yantar. The group inhabits the Baay region in southern Somalia and as most subclans in the Mirifle line, it is mainly pastoralist.
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 Yantar subclan of Mirifle clan (Digil-Mirifle) has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
