For information on the above-mentioned subject please consult Responses to Information Requests SOM23290.E of 14 March 1996 and SOM20438.E of 14 April 1995 which are available at your Regional Documentation Centre.

According to Bernhard Helander, editor of Somalia News Update, the Tumaal are a small group regarded as inferior by other Somalis because they [Tumaal], are not part of the major clan families and because they work as artisans and blacksmiths, occupations which are "despised" in Somalia (Supplement to Information Session on Country Conditions on Somalia, 15 Feb. 1996, 74).

The Tumaal are reportedly found throughout the Somali speaking territories but following the fall of Siad Barre, in 1991, the Tumaal allegedly experienced "some persecution due to the fact that a member of this group, Ali Samatar, had held a number of high government offices during the former regime" (ibid.).

For additional information on the Tumaal and their relationship to the Midgan please consult the IRB's Supplement to Information Session on Country Conditions on Somalia, pp. 74-76.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Bernhard Helander, "Vulnerable Minorities in Somalia and Somaliland," in Supplement to Information Session on Country Conditions on Somalia, Toronto Front, 15 February 1996.