For information on the presence of Somali refugees from the Ogaden province of Ethiopia, please refer to the September 1992 DIRB publication entitled Somalia: The North, which is available at your Regional Documentation Centre.

A News from Africa Watch report states that tensions were further intensified when the government manipulated the Ogadeni refugees in an effort to repress the Isaak:
The government has used various strategies such as enabling refugees to take over Issak-owned business and giving Somali passports to many refugees in order to upset the numerical strength of the Issaks in the north and therefore the political balance in the region (25 May 1989, 3).

The SNM reportedly launched armed attacks in northern Somalia in late May 1988, targeting several Ogadeni refugee camps with the aim of "terrorizing the Ogadeni refugees to force their removal from traditional Issak territory" (ibid., 5). The bulk of the Somali army that fought in this conflict which was concentrated in Hargeisa and Burao, reportedly consisted of Ogadenis several of whom had been forcibly conscripted from refugee camps (ibid., 4). The UNHCR reportedly managed 14 camps but noticed that refugees from at least six of the camps were armed. While acknowledging
that Ogadeni refugees and refugee camps had been attacked by the SNM and lives had been lost, the UNHCR believed that the Ogadeni refugees had become a party to the conflict and thus were ineligible to receive international humanitarian assistance. (ibid., 6).

The first government of Somaliland, announced on 4 June 1991 was composed of 16 members of the Issak clan and its subclans and six members of minority clans (Drysdale 1991, 45). According to a Somali professor of African studies at the University of Florida in Gainsville, Somaliland is composed of five regions: Awdal, North West, Togdheer, Sool and Sanag (4 May 1994). The last three regions are located west of Hargeisa. Sources knowledgeable on Somalia agree that each of these regions is controlled by a different clan, each with its own militia. Togdheer is under the control of the Isaaq, Sanag is a territory of the Warsangeli, the Dulbahante and the Isaaq, and Sool is controlled by the Dulbahante (ibid.; OFDA 4 Mar. 1994).

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.

Drysdale, John. 1991. Somaliland 1991: Report and Reference. Hove, UK: Global-Stas Ltd.

Leatherbee, L. and Dale Bricker, D. January 1994. Balancing Consensus and Dissent: The Prospects for Human Rights and Democracy in the Horn of Africa. New York: The Fund for Peace.

News from Africa Watch [New York]. "Somalia: Human Rights Abuses and Civil War in the North: A Report from the U.S. General Accounting Office."

Office of United States Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Washington, DC. 4 March 1994. Situation Report No. 25. "Somalia-Civil Strife."

Somali professor of African studies, University of Florida, Gainsville. 6 April 1994. Telephone interview.

Documentation, Information and Research Branch (DIRB), Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa. September 1992. Somalia: The North.

News from Africa Watch [New York]. May 1989. "Somalia: Human Rights Abuses and Civil War in the North: A Report from the U.S. General Accounting Office."