SUMMARY
Unlike other multiethnic countries in the Sub-Saharan African context, the Somali society is characterized by a vast system of clans. Most of the population belongs to one of the five overarching clan families namely the Darod, the Isaaq, the Hawiye, the Dir, and the Rahanweyn (also known as Rewin or Digil-Mirifle). Each clan family is further divided into sub-clans and in some cases into sub-sub-clans. The origins of the clans are shared and each clan is related to the others, yet there are differences in terms of culture, tradition, and the form of life.
Up until independence in 1960, the Somali society was organized according to the clan system and each clan had a leader and a council of elders. These leaders played a major role in daily life and especially in intertribal relations. The council of elders was responsible for maintaining peace and harmony amongst the Somali people. Weakened clans were, for example, to be protected and were at times integrated into stronger clans in order to assure its survival. When inter-clan conflicts did occur, rules of conduct were agreed upon; such as caring for the injured or the treatment of prisoners.
During the post-independence era, traditional structures were replaced by modern governmental and judicial institutions hence removing the power once given to the clan leader and the council of the elders. As a result, relations between clans continuously deteriorated, which in turn also resulted in a stronger sense of affiliation to one’s own clan. This process contributed to, and was further strengthened by, the outbreak of the intra-state conflict in Somalia which began at the end of 1982. Clan-related conflicts continued to fuel non-state conflicts in Somalia.
At the beginning of January 2000 tensions were high between the two related Abgal clans, the Abdalleh-Agon-Yar subclan of Abgal clan (Hawiye) and the Eli-Agon-Yar subclan of Abgal clan (Hawiye). Grievances concerned the control over a project, funded by a German aid organization, to rebuild an obsolete irrigation canal. When a man of the Abdalleh-Agon-Yar subclan was shot to death by militiamen of the latter clan, relatives of the deceased man retaliated by killing three members of the Eli-Agon-Yar subclan. The incident, combined with the dispute over the construction contract, triggered a series of smaller armed confrontations in and around the city of Mahadday and the village of Miirtaqwo in the Shabelle Dhexe region. At the end of February, fighting escalated as heavy weaponry, such as rocket-propelled grenade launchers and anti-tank guns, was used during a clash in the city of Mahadday. The fierce fighting resulted in the displacement of hundreds of people. Although several attempts by clan elders and the local imam were made to solve the conflict, peace talks quickly broke down and fighting resumed. It was not until a neutral convoy of battlewagons, so-called technicals, reached the city that fighting ceased. The conflict, which lasted for a period of a month and a half, is estimated to have caused the death of 26 people.
The non-state conflict between the Abdalleh-Agon-Yar subclan of Abgal clan (Hawiye) and the Eli-Agon-Yar subclan of Abgal clan (Hawiye) is first included in UCDP data in 2000. At the end of February of that year, the threshold of 25 battle-related deaths was reached after armed confrontations in Mahadday town, in Middle Shabelle region of southern Somalia.
